OPERATION : REBOUND
by ShanghaiLily
Summary: Jackie & Hyde have trouble hiding their secret relationship, because a housebound & heartbroken Eric continually walks in on them while they're fooling around. Sexually frustrated, they resolve to find Eric a girlfriend to distract him so they can be alone in every way. What happens when Donna comes home and finds that Eric has moved on? Will she fight for him? AU & fluffy Pre-S5
1. Chapter 1 - Take a Walk on the Wild Side

**Obvious disclaimer: I don't own T70S, though I wish I did, because I would have totally made Donna work a little harder to get Eric back. One day, when she's over 30 and she's seen what's out there, she'll realize what a catch she had in him ;)**

* * *

_Jackie is just speeding away_

_Thought she was James Dean for a day_

_Then I guess she had to crash_

_Valium would have helped that bash_

_Said, 'Hey, baby, take a walk on the wild side'_

_I said, 'Hey, honey, take a walk on the wild side'_

_- "Take a Walk on the Wild Side"_

* * *

Jackie's hand slid up the back of Hyde's shirt and he sighed at the contact. They'd started hooking up nearly a week ago, yet things were already getting quite heated—literally. The indoor thermostat was reading 91 degrees, and it didn't seem like the Wisconsin heat wave was going to let up any time soon.

Having a generally cold-weather climate, most people in the Northern Midwest didn't have air conditioners or fans in their houses, and the Formans were no exception. The house was hot, and the basement with it's lack of windows and fresh air, was a downright furnace. But there was nowhere else for them to go.

Hyde pulled Jackie's ponytail to give him better access to her neck. Ever since they went to prom together a million years ago, he had wondered what her skin might taste like, how soft it might feel beneath his fingertips as they slowly drifted their way down lower.

With her hair piled high and her dress sheer yet covering as much surface area as possible, she was unknowingly taunting him all night. In fact, if Kelso hadn't started crying and begging for him to hand his little girlfriend over to him, it's almost certain he would have crossed the line with her at some point. She may have been annoying, but she was hot and he was 17.

Lately though, they had both been crossing lines all over the place, and with half of everybody gone, there was nobody around to see their transgressions...except for Eric, but only when he refused to leave the house...which was all the time, sadly.

It had been two weeks since Kelso and Donna ran off to California. Two weeks he was sure would be hell incarnate, sandwiched between the two latest inductees into the Heartbreak Hall of Fame. Hyde fully expected Jackie to be her usual sniveling mess and Eric to curl up into fetal position for the remainder of the summer holiday. What he did not expect, was the little minx to come bouncing into the basement the very next day with a smile on her face, seemingly without a care in the world. That was something new.

Starting at the divet in the center of her collarbone, Hyde dragged his tongue roughly up her neck until he reached her earlobe. She was vaguely sweaty or 'glowing' as she would prefer him to say, but still managed to taste and smell distinctly of vanilla. A slightly salty vanilla, mixed with coconut oil that was reminiscent of the salted caramel he used to swipe from that candy store down on the boardwalk. Whatever the hell it was, he was digging it.

As her hands rose higher under the back of his shirt, she felt the sweat dripping down his spine which made her fingers glide like she was finger-painting, but it didn't bother her one bit. Real men were supposed to sweat, and she hadn't been with a real man in...ever. Kelso barely had any body hair and he certainly didn't sweat. Hyde was not lacking in the hair department. She was finally with a real man and she was digging it.

Taking her cue, Hyde grabbed the edge of his shirt and whipped it off over his head, throwing it unceremoniously into a lump on the floor. Jackie smiled at him and slowly echoed his performance, making a bit of a show of it. She wasn't wearing a bra as usual, and her brazen striptease just about blew his mind.

This was the farthest they had gone, and definitely the most exposed they had ever been together, not counting the time the whole gang went skinny-dipping at night and Jackie almost caught her death of cold. Normally, she would never let things get to this point with a boy so quickly, but he wasn't a boy, he was Steven. It was different.

"Just when you think you know somebody..." he whispered just behind her ear in his gravel-like baritone, sending a shiver throughout her body. He straddled her lap and took a good look at what he had been fantasizing about for longer than he'd care to admit.

She blushed and pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. Jackie wanted to be a lady and avert her gaze, but she was lying on a dirty couch in a working class friend's basement with a hairy burnout on top of her, so those aspirations didn't exactly jibe with her current state. That ship had sailed, and thank God it did, because she was enjoying the view above her quite a bit.

"Stop staring so much Steven or your eyes are going to freeze like that," she carped, as she started to squirm under his intense glare. He'd barely blinked since she had taken her top off, and what was first extremely flattering was quickly turning uncomfortable.

"Let 'em." He grinned and buried his face between her pert breasts.

Her breath caught in her throat and a faint moan escaped her lips - possibly the cutest moan Hyde had ever heard - though he'd willingly throw himself in traffic first before admitting to that. He ran his hands down the sides of her torso and she tucked hers down the back of his jeans, sharply pulling him closer to her groin by his bare ass. That made _his _breath catch.

Jackie wasn't like any of the other girls he'd been with before. For one, she came from the 'right' side of the tracks. He may have fooled around with a handful of rich girls in the past, but all of them had been slumming it and made that painfully clear to him from the beginning to the end. He'd never been with a princess who was willing to be seen out in public with her toad before. Considering Jackie took him as her prom date one year, he was fairly confident she wasn't like the others in this regard.

She also wasn't stacked like most of the others he'd been with, but he was surprised to find it didn't bother him much at all. Her breasts barely spilled over his hands when he held them, but they were high, soft, and sensitive and he liked the feel of them under his tongue. They may not have been as imposing as Pam Macy's tits, but Pam Macy's only real asset was her tits, so they had to be fantastic, because her entire reputation was riding on it. Jackie had other qualities going for her, more than he'd ever realized.

One of them wasn't experience, though. Kelso had been the chief source of her sex education, which wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement, but what she lacked in real world experience she more than made up for in natural ability and enthusiasm. In fact, it was a pretty sure bet that she had the most talented mouth he'd ever kissed. He normally would have been drawing some other, more interesting conclusions from that fact, but he was fairy certain she didn't have too much practice in that arena either...though she was chock full of surprises lately, so anything was possible.

"Jackie..." he whispered against her right nipple as he rubbed his thumb over the left one. "Your body is just-" Before he was able to get the rest of the sentiment out, the sound of the door handle jostling from the top of interior stairs made them both jump.

Jackie lunged for her shirt and threw it over her head, inside out. Hyde donned his aviators, leapt off of her lap and scrambled to his usual chair, unable to replace his shirt in time before Eric made his way down the stairs.

"Hey guys," Eric offered weakly as he plopped himself down beside Jackie on the couch. He was wearing a bathrobe and Jackie was absolutely certain he hadn't shaved or bathed in days. She looked at her heartbroken friend with scorn, and then tucked her feet under her and began intently examining her nails.

"Why aren't you wearing a shirt, Hyde?" Eric asked, his head cocked to the side in absent thought.

"I uh, it's a fucking oven down here, if you haven't noticed," Hyde said with a frown, before tossing his t-shirt to the floor for further dramatic effect.

"I haven't. I've been too busy thinking about Donna." Eric sighed pathetically.

Jackie rolled her eyes with disdain. "Well you're not going to win her back looking like that. Even Donna has _some _standards, Eric."

"Yeah, probably..." Eric shrugged, then turned to his best friend again. "Hey, I'm not too sure Red is going to like it if he sees you hanging out without a shirt on." He then leaned back into the lumpy couch and sighed loudly once more.

"Red's not the only one," Jackie sneered, never lifting her head in Hyde's direction.

"You wish, sweetheart," Hyde sniped back, and angrily crossed his arms over his bare chest.

"I'm bored. I'm going to the mall," Jackie announced, and kicked her feet back into her platform clogs. "Wanna come, Eric?" she offered, as she stood up and pulled her macrame shoulder bag across her chest. "I hear Pennys just came out with a new line of clothes for skinny dorks, so you might actually find something flattering there," she said earnestly.

Eric sighed a third time. "Maybe some other day, devil. I'm not really ready to leave the house."

"Whatever." She breezily swung her hips as she walked toward the outdoor stairs.

"Well Forman, as much fun as I'm having watching your muscles atrophy, I've gotta bounce." Hyde bent down to grabbed his wadded up shirt and pulled it back on as he charged over to the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Eric whined, in a slightly detached tone.

"I've got a date, man," he said, while holding his hand up in a half-assed wave as he walked out of the door.

Eric stared ahead and sighed a fourth time, then unceremoniously slumped to the side until he was fully horizontal again.

Waiting outside in the cement stairwell, Jackie tapped her heavy clog impatiently.

* * *

Hyde slowly approached her with a knowing grin plastered across his scruffy face.

"What took you so long?" she snapped.

"It was like, two minutes." he snapped back.

"I don't have all day..." Jackie affected a bored look.

Hyde pulled her toward him by the waist and then slammed her somewhat roughly into the wall. "You have somewhere else to be, princess?" he asked, as a smirk danced across his lips.

She shrugged petulantly and looked off in the distance behind his head.

Hyde tugged the rubber band out of her hair, causing her dark curls to fall down around her shoulders. He ran his fingers gently through her silky strands and then grasped her skull firmly and pulled her head toward his for a kiss. Hovering above her mouth, he brushed his lips lightly against hers, back and forth, barely making contact.

Her eyes closed, and she unknowingly held her breath. Her swollen lips parted slowly and waited for the coming invasion.

Without warning, Hyde pulled back and walked casually past her up the stairs, chuckling to himself.

Suddenly irate, Jackie grabbed Hyde's jeans by the back loop and pulled him harshly toward her, using the element of surprise to throw him off balance and pin him to the wall.

His mouth dropped open, and even through his tinted plastic barrier, she could see a large measure of shock register in his eyes.

Jackie shook her head, and clucked her disapproval. Her formerly puckering mouth was now screwed into a triumphant pout. "That wasn't very nice Steven. Aren't I always nice to you?"

The corners of Hyde's mouth turned up. "Not really."

She leaned forward and brushed her lips against his earlobe. "Would you like me to be?"

Aroused beyond comprehension, Hyde grabbed Jackie by her shoulders and flipped her over, pinning her against the wall again. Before Jackie had a moment to complain, his mouth descended onto hers - urgently kissing her – as his hands crept their way up the inside of her shirt.

"Let's get out of here before somebody catches us," he suggested, excited to get her alone where they could take things further.

Jackie answered him with a smile, and they dashed, hand-in-hand into the front seat of the El Camino.

"Drive fast!" she demanded breathlessly, as she knelt down below the window, safely out of sight.

As Hyde slipped the car into gear and peeled loudly out of the driveway, the El Camino's rubber wheels screeched, shooting off sparks in its wake.

* * *

Once safely hidden from prying eyes on the top of Mount Hump, Jackie and Hyde continued their topless make-out session in his car.

"Ouch!" she cried, as he leaned her into the emergency break.

"Sorry baby," Hyde apologized and winced as he tried to turn her over unsuccessfully.

Jackie climbed into his lap and straddled him. Quarters were tight in the car, which meant there wasn't too much room to maneuver her the way he wanted to. "God Jackie, you are so fucking hot," he growled into the center of her chest, his beard brushing up against her skin, making her oversensitive.

She could feel him everywhere, but still not as many places as she'd like to. He grabbed her ass and then groaned as he felt her press her center down against his tight bulge.

Jackie giggled and threw her head back. "You think I'm hot?"

Hyde's mouth dropped into a straight line. "Jackie..." he said warningly, "Don't start."

"Well, if you don't think I'm hot, I can always..." Wide-eyed, she gingerly picked her shirt up off the seat by its edge.

Hyde's resolve broke instantly. He grabbed the shirt from her hands and tossed it without care into the back seat, where she couldn't get to it. He took in her bemused expression and shook his head. "I'm pretty sure the government sent you here to fuck with my head."

Jackie stuck out her bottom lip and pouted. "Oh Steven, you're already fucked in the head. They're too late."

Hard laughter tore through his frame, and he wondered how the hell they had managed to keep their hands off of each other until then. She was wrong for him in almost every way, but for some reason it felt perfect anyway...not that he'd ever say that out loud.

Jackie's eyes darkened and she pulled Hyde's head to her chest, then ran her fingers through his curly hair. He closed his eyes and pressed his cheek in closer, finding himself oddly soothed by the sound of her heartbeat. He'd never been like this with a girl before, this comfortable. She knew who he was, what he was about, and the pressure to perform or explain himself evaporated.

"I wish we were alone," she sighed, and pressed her lips into his hair.

One of his eyebrows raised in query. "We are alone...unless there's something you're not telling me..." He shifted her over and pretended to look behind her.

Jackie shook her head at his antics. "You know what I mean. It just sucks we're always having to run out the basement to fool around."

"Yeah well, as long as there's the potential to see pool boob, Fez is usually no problem to get rid of," Hyde reminded her, though it didn't make too much of a dent, considering they had Point Place's own Howard Hughes skulking around the house all day in a fog of depression.

"I'm not talking about Fez," she said pointedly, and he nodded in response.

"I'm with you doll, but I'm fresh out of ideas. I mean, I even offered him a free punch if he would agree to play a game of hoops in the front yard, but he blew it off," he recounted, scratching his beard. "I mean, when else is he going to get the opportunity to hit me in the face? Or anyone really?"

"You're such a good friend Steven. Donna has never offered to let me hit her in the face, and it _so_ would have cheered me up the last time me and Michael broke up." Jackie raised her hand and helped him scratch his beard like a cat. He smiled at her and slowly moved her hand down to his zipper. She smirked and then pulled it away. "If you think I'm doing _that_ in a car, you are sorely mistaken, you filthy hippie."

Hyde gazed at her appreciatively. "So...you're saying you'd do that _not_ in a car?"

She shrugged. "Looks like you're never gonna find out."

"I'll get him out of the house if I have to shove him in a box and mail him to Cuba."

He looked at Jackie with conviction and she smiled, flattered that he even cared enough to try. "Well, unfortunately that's looking like the only way he's going to leave. Unless..." Her brow furrowed and she pursed her lips in thought.

Hyde delicately grabbed her face. "What's going on in that dangerous head of yours?"He hoped she'd at least come up with a solution to their dilemma that wouldn't land him in jail.

She smiled conspiratorially. "What's the one thing you'd do just about anything for?"

"Uh...film?" He wasn't sure if that was the correct answer.

Jackie shook her head. "Try again."

"Beer?" Hyde offered weakly.

"No. God, you really are a massive burnout, aren't you?" she groused, and scrunched up her nose, which he promptly tweaked in revenge. "Ow. Fine. Since you're too wasted to get it on your own, I'll give you a hint."

Jackie took both of his hands and brought them to her breasts, then began to grind against him enthusiastically. "You understand what I'm talking about now, Einstein?"

Hyde affected a blank expression and shook his head. "No idea. You're going to have to keep going."

Jackie pulled his hands back down to her waist, on to his manipulation. "Eric needs a woman, Steven!"

"You don't think your _friend_ Donna might be a little pissed off about it if we go out and find a chick for him to bang?" he asked, slight disapproval leaching into his tone.

"My _friend _Donna is too busy hanging out with my ex-boyfriend in California to notice what Eric is doing," she retorted, eyes flashing dangerously at him.

Hyde's jeans grew a little tighter as her anger rose. He fleetingly wondered if it was wrong that her fury got him hot. "Okay. Let's get him laid!"

"Really?" Jackie squealed as she bounced up and down on his lap excitedly.

He closed his eyes and breathed through Jackie's physical antics. "Yeah, everybody deserves to get laid," he told her, clearly referring mostly to himself.

She looked down at his bulge and steadied herself, shooting him a quick look of apology. "Well, as soon as we can get Eric laid, then everybody else can get laid too," she explained to him with intent.

"Everybody?" Hyde asked, his blue eyes deepening with lust at the mere thought.

Jackie leaned in and licked the edge of his ear with her tongue. "No. Just you and me, Puddin' Pop."

* * *

**Let me know what you think in the review section please! Reviews make me happy :)**


	2. Chapter 2 - Somebody to Love

**A/N - Thanks for all of the encouragement and flattering reviews. I really get excited every time FF sends an alert out about a new one appearing!**

* * *

_Can anybody find me somebody to love?  
Each morning I get up I die a little  
Can barely stand on my feet  
Take a look in the mirror and cry  
Lord what you're doing to me _

_- "Somebody to Love"_

* * *

Jackie and Hyde sat side by side at the gang's regular table near the bathrooms at The Hub. They'd been there for nearly an hour and had yet to find any decent candidates to bring home to Eric.

"Ooo, what about her?" Jackie gestured to a short, cute blonde standing on line to order food.

"Meh," Hyde judged unenthusiastically.

"Reason?"

"Total virgin," he sneered.

Jackie scoffed, offended on behalf of all virgins everywhere, of which she was one, not too long ago. "So? She doesn't have to stay that way."

"If she's a virgin, all they're gonna do is cuddle on the couch and watch TV for months until she's ready. We need a chick who's up for wiggling her ass around now. Then we can lure him out of the house with it, you know, like chum," he explained philosophically.

Jackie shrugged, acquiescing the point, then gave Hyde a look of bemusement. "Do you think of my ass as chum?"

He smiled at her with only his eyes and let his hand fall to rest on her knee under the table. "Not you, baby. Yours is prime rib." He winked and then let his fingers ghost the underside of her knee before wandering over to her inner thigh. He wanted to let them travel even higher, but the two of them hadn't done that yet, and they definitely weren't going to do it for the first time in the middle of a crowded restaurant.

Jackie made it clear that anything below the belt wasn't going to happen anywhere but a bed or a couch - at least, not initially. Unfortunately, they were never alone together in the basement long enough to get their pants off.

If he took her into his bedroom, Eric still could walk in on them, looking to smoke up as he had been doing quite frequently lately. The Camino was out too, because the princess said she was way too classy to give up the goods in there, and despite his selfish desires, Hyde agreed. So there they were, forever in limbo at 2nd base. Striking out never felt so bad.

* * *

One hour later.

"It's been over a week and we haven't agreed on one girl. What about the redhead at nine o'clock?" Hyde raised his eyebrows.

Jackie turned her head to the left to examine the candidate. "What a surprise, you like the one who looks like a whore."

He bristled. Didn't she realize he only went for whores because they gave it up without the need for personal investment? If he wanted to share his deepest secrets and hug it out, he'd go to Summer camp. He wanted to get laid though, and for that, he'd bang a chick whose sole purpose was to do just that.

Until now.

Hyde looked at the beautiful woman next to him, way too good for him for sure, and tried to wrap his brain around their coupling. She winked at him, and his stomach instinctively clenched. He quickly decided he didn't have enough time or energy to delve into irrational questions and refocused his thoughts back onto his best friend. "What's wrong with whores?"

"That's not Eric's type, it's yours. Eric likes clean girls," she reminded him.

"Forman's still a guy, last time I checked. Sluts are every guy's type, that's why Hustler is filled with pictures of 'em. If guys liked 'clean' girls, they'd be jacking off to Vogue," he explained to her, in a condescending manner.

Jackie knew he had a point, but she desperately wanted to believe that there was one guy left out there whose head wasn't turned by some cheap skank. "I'm not jack-off material?" she asked, in offense. "Oh whatever, you'd be lucky if I let you jack-off to my picture."

"How do you know I haven't already, Jackie?" he challenged. "Perhaps, last night when I turned the lights off, I thought about you sunbathing in the Forman's driveway, wearing that tiny gold bikini and rubbing coconut oil all over your body. Maybe, I yanked my chain to that image?"

Her skin grew hot at the possibility. "Did you?"

Hyde stared her down for a moment without tipping his hand, then finally shrugged his admission.

Jackie flipped her hair and her lips curled into a proud smile. "See? I'm always right. Clean girls _are _jack-off material."

He groaned and pinched the inside of her thigh. She squirmed, and could feel the heat starting to pool between her legs, so she crossed them quickly and then motioned with her chin to the redhead again. "You're telling me, Eric would bring _that_ home to meet Kitty and Red?"

She was being intentionally obtuse and it was frustrating the hell of out Hyde. He rested his head in his hands. "I never said that Jackie. I only said he'd be into her. Everybody knows you don't bring a slut home to meet your parents."

"You're saying you wouldn't?" She was skeptical and he was instantly irritated.

"I don't have parents, so it's a moot point," he snapped.

"But if you did?"

He exhaled loudly, willing to say just about anything to end the conversation. No good could come out of it if they continued. "Fine. No, I wouldn't. Red would probably string me up if I brought home some skank, and Kitty...well, let's just say we'd be swimming in brownies until I dumped the chick."

Jackie sighed her relief and continued to cling to the notion that Steven was her Prince Charming in deep down disguise.

This made him smile, despite himself. "Don't look at me like that," he ordered her, and then forced his mouth into a neutral expression.

"Like what?" she continued gazing at him like he'd just written a sonnet for her.

"You know."

Jackie shrugged it off. "Whatever. You can pretend all you want that you're some disgusting pig, but I know the real truth. That act is just your way of trying to protect yourself from getting hurt. Deep down, you're really a sweet guy who just wants to find a girl who will love him unconditionally and never leave, and one day you will, even if you are a scruffy hippie with anarchist tendencies."

She turned to the slutty redhead again. "We should probably should stay away from redheads." She looked to him for confirmation, glazing over the A-bomb she just dropped on his head.

Still reeling from her brazen - if totally accurate - dissection of his personality, all Hyde could do was bob his head lightly. "What about her friend?" he asked, his head still not back in the game.

"Out of his league. We can't have Eric punching above his weight his first time back in the ring, Steven. It's demoralizing...and hasn't he had enough experience being demoralized throughout his life?"

Under the table, Hyde's fingertips teased the hem of Jackie's white linen micro-shorts.

She licked her lips and turned to face him. "This whole thing is turning you on."

He waggled his eyebrows, their peaks rose and fell over the tops of his aviators. "And you?"

She uncrossed her legs to allow him better access to her. "_You're _turning me on. This whole thing just makes me feel a pimp who is whore shopping. Shopping is only erotic if it's for jewelry or furs."

Hyde let out a puff of air in disgust. "The first half of that sentence had me going, and then you lost me at jewelry."

"I don't know why you have such a problem buying a girl you like things that make her happy."

"I don't like you, Jackie," he said simply, hoping this would end the conversation.

Jackie absorbed the blow without a reaction. "I wasn't talking about me, you idiot. I meant any girl you like."

He plastered on a fake smile. "Well, that shouldn't be too much of a problem, since I really haven't met a girl I've liked enough to, you know...like."

A mischievous grin took over her face. "Maybe you're gay, then. In fact, I think it makes perfect sense, if you think about it."

"Yeah, I'm not interested in thinking about it, and I'm not gay." Her constant pestering only reminded him why he hadn't tried to screw her in the past.

"If you say so..." She patted his leg, laying the trap, then kicked back and waited for the kill.

"Are you trying to get me to prove it?" Hyde shot Jackie a dirty look. Their eyes locked and they could feel that familiar electricity building between them. Jackie looked around to see if she could spot anyone they knew and then licked her lips, which let him know they were 'all clear'.

* * *

As Hyde leaned in to steal their first kiss in a public place, they were suddenly distracted by a whistling rendition of the Starland Vocal Band song 'Afternoon Delight' emanating from the women's bathroom, directly behind them.

A familiar voice belted out the next verse. "Thinkin' of you's workin' up my appetite, looking forward to a little afternoon delight..."

"Shit! Fez!" Jackie grimaced, and fleetingly wondered if some jealous, fat girl had concocted a curse to prevent beautiful girls like her from getting action. "For some reason he thinks ladies are turned on by this song."

The couple inched away from one another quickly and both adopted a practiced stance of mutual irritation. Luckily for the pair, they'd had years of practice with that, so it was second nature by now.

"Be waiting for me, baby, when I come around. We can make a lot of lovin' 'fore the sun goes down." The foreigner jammed hard, almost dancing his way into the main dining, area before he noticed his friends. "Oh, hey Jackie and Hyde. Wait. Jackie and Hyde? What are you two doing here...together?"

"Oh we're not together!" Jackie gestured wildly between them. "This was just the only seat available in the whole restaurant," she claimed, right before noticing that the table next to them was completely empty.

Hyde casually pointed to the empty seats. "They just got up."

"Aiy. I wish the two of you could be in the same room without wanting to hit each other," he lamented, before he squeezed in between the two, and plopped a bag of Red Hots on the table in front of him.

"Yeah well, I can definitely say I've thought many times about hitting that." Hyde pointed to his girl.

Jackie stifled a grin. "Hmm. I would have liked to have seen you try," she volleyed back, their sexual innuendo flying through the air like confetti.

Suddenly, a girl with large hazel eyes and golden brown hair messily piled on top of her head, walked into The Hub. She wore a pair of painter's overalls that reminded Jackie of Scout in 'To Kill a Mockingbird". She was makeupless and unkempt, but there was something about her that made Jackie's radar start to ping, despite her obvious need of a makeover.

Jackie stole a glance at Hyde, and could tell that he seemed to have noticed the girl too, because his eyes followed her all around The Hub.

"Close your mouth, Hyde, you're drooling."

"What?" Hyde snapped out of his trance.

"Do you like her or something?" she asked coolly.

Hyde shrugged. "I wouldn't kick her out of bed."

He was lying though, because he would – and in fact did - kick every chick out of his bed lately. There was only one girl he really wanted in his bed right now, despite his better judgment, and that was Jackie. For some reason, he hadn't figured out yet why he was willing to wait for it from her when he could get it anywhere, but he was.

"Why don't you save us all a lot of time and just make a list of the girls you _would _kick out of bed, Steven." She snorted.

"Oooh, burn!" Fez jumped up excitedly.

"I can tell you one name that's on the top of that list." He grinned smugly and looked down at his feet.

"Ah burn!" Fez piped in again, this time pointing at Jackie. He rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Fez likes! I feel like I'm watching Krissy Everett and John MacEnroe playing each other at Wimbledon! Rwoar!" He made an angry cat noise and then tossed a handful of cinnamon goodness into his gullet.

"Jackie..." Hyde started, not exactly what he could possibly say in front of Fez that wouldn't clue him into their affair. Their friend was beyond weird and had a really odd way of looking at the universe, but he wasn't a moron. Especially not when compared with his good buddy Kelso.

"What do I care if you check that girl out? She really looks like your type too Steven. Like you, I'm pretty sure she hasn't washed her clothes all week either." She crossed her arms over her chest. "You should really go for it," she encouraged, in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

Hyde mentally kicked himself for getting all caught up in her drama. Things had had been okay when it was just the two of them fooling around in the basement, or the El Camino, or behind the bowling alley, but the moment he took her out anywhere in public she usually turned into a harpie. Especially when she thought he was checking out other girls. For some reason though, he found himself coming back for more...and even worse, he always looked forward to it. Every fucking time.

"I was looking at her for Forman," he told her, honestly.

"Oh." She felt like an idiot, and knew she was acting like one, but she couldn't control it. She was sure Steven was handling their no-strings-attached relationship like a pro, but she could feel herself getting in deep and it was scaring her. It was the last thing she expected or wanted to happen.

"You are picking up a lady for Eric?" Fez looked at his bearded friend quizzically.

"It was Jackie's idea. She thought he might be less annoying if he were getting laid," Hyde said.

"My goddess has a point. Eric has been very sad and very...grimy since Donna left. The basement has been a depressing place to be, which is why you have not seen too much of Fez this summer." He smoothed out the too-tight t-shirt he was wearing.

"I thought it was because you wanted to check out girls after they'd jumped off the high dive?" Jackie said.

"True. The chance to see a misaligned bikini top was the main reason I haven't been by much, but it was also because circles are no fun when one of the people you're doing it with is crying. Trust me, I've been told this many times before," he assured her.

"That's because you cried for an entire week, man," Hyde said.

"The girl at the disco said she'd call me! I gave her my number and then she didn't call. Who does that?" he asked, starting to get himself all worked up about it again.

"Focus Fez," Jackie whispered curtly, snapping her fingers once in front of his face. "This is about getting Eric out of his funk."

"And out of the house," Hyde added.

Jackie nodded. "That too. Especially that." She gritted her teeth.

"Well, who were you two looking at? The girl in the overalls?" Fez wondered.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Her name is Lucy. She works at the movie theater and likes science fiction films. She's also working her way through art school...oh, and she loves Lemonheads best. Normally, this would be a dealbreaker, but she has a nice ass," Fez informed them, laying out all the details.

Hyde's forehead crinkled. "How do you know all of this? Are you stalking her?"

"Her job is at the candy counter," Fez said, figuring that would answer all further questions about how he gathered so much intel on her.

"Is she single?" Jackie asked.

"Yes, I think so. At least, I haven't ever seen a man come to pick up up at the end of the night."

Jackie looked at Hyde, who secretly winked back, and smiled. "She's perfect."

* * *

Hyde was sitting on his usual chair with Jackie straddling his lap, facing him. Over a month had passed now since he'd started this little tryst with Jackie, and though he knew it wouldn't be long until he could get her alone, the wait was really starting to mess with his mind.

He found himself watching the door of the basement every day for her arrival, and if she was late for any reason, his stomach would drop and he'd be sick with disappointment until she surfaced.

He also thought about her a lot when she wasn't there – too much – and frequently dreamt about her lying beneath him, her dark hair fanned out on his pillow, eyes burning with want and body shaking with the need to be touched.

He assumed it was the lack of sex that was rotting his brain, but then he remembered that he could have been getting some this whole time, but chose not to because he was waiting for her. That's when things started to get a little unsettling for him.

He was waiting for Jackie. For sex. He didn't want it with anybody else, and _this_ was what was really rotting his brain. Hyde was not the kind of guy who waited for sex, he was the kind of guy who took a girl home for sex and then waited anxiously for her to leave.

Then it hit him - he liked Jackie. Really really liked her. In fact, he liked her more than any other girl he had ever liked, which was saying a lot since he had never really liked any other girl but Donna.

He wondered how this could have happened. She wasn't his type at all, this was obvious. But, not only wasn't she his type, she represented almost everything he hated in the world. It was perverse, and a coupling like theirs should never be. And yet here it was, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Hyde buried his face in her hair and inhaled her scent deeply. She always smelled so good, and he liked that he could smell her all over himself for hours after she left each day. He was painfully aware this made him a huge pansy, but as long as nobody could tell what he was thinking – and he was sure they couldn't, because years of zen had made him virtually unreadable - he was safe.

"Are you smelling my hair?" Jackie giggled as she ran the tip of her nose behind his ear and brushed her lips against his neck.

Panic swept across Hyde's face. "What? No. I uh, I have allergies."

She pulled back and looked at him with disbelief. "Uh-huh."

"No," he asserted, and started to get agitated.

She smiled softly and ran her fingertips down the front of his chest. "You were smelling me. It's okay though, I do it to you too."

Her beautiful mismatched eyes flicked up and caught his gaze, and his heart started beating wildly through his chest. It was at that moment that he knew he was truly and utterly fucked.

He cleared his throat and reached for his aviators, which he had carefully balanced on the spine of the couch. "What time is Lucy coming by?" He didn't really care, but was desperate to change the focus to anything but how he felt about this chick who was _definitely not his girlfriend_.

Jackie lifted Hyde's left arm to read his watch. "Any minute now actually. I guess it was lucky you started getting freaked out on me when you did, or somebody might have walked in on us." She hopped off his lap, leaving him feeling empty and cold.

"I don't get freaked out, doll," he responded defensively. "That's your department."

She raised both of her eyebrows with incredulity and walked back toward him. "Whatever Steven. I know what I know."

"You know nothing," he insisted with a grunt.

"Baby, you're under the mistaken impression that if you wear those stupid glasses all the time, people won't be able to tell what you're really thinking. I don't need to look at you to tell what you're thinking, Puddin' Pop. I can tell in here." She gloated, while tapping the area above her heart, then turned and bent over to get a pack of gum from her purse which was lying on the ground.

Hyde grabbed her hips and firmly pressed his groin up against her behind, making sure she could feel the evidence of his arousal. "What am I thinking now, Amazing Kreskin?"

"Fez, don't you think these clothes are a little formal? I mean, we're just hanging out in the basement," Eric whined from the top of the stairs.

* * *

Hyde quickly released his girl and reclaimed his seat, this time crossing his legs to hide the strain in his pants.

Jackie took one look at Eric and started clapping and cheering wildly. "Woo-hoo! It's great to see you finally wearing pants that don't have an elastic waistband."

Eric held both hands aloft and basked embarrassingly in the attention. "Yeah yeah. I know. You were sad because I was burying all of this sexy under a terrycloth robe, but you can rest easy now devil, because I'm letting all my sexy out to play again."

Jackie scrunched up her face with disgust. "Ew."

"Too far?" He tipped his head to the side. "I may have overplayed that joke a bit."

"You think?" Hyde asked, wearing an equal look of disgust.

"People, look. Eric has been out of civilization for a while now and we all have to be patient as he relearns how to talk to people without being creepy," Fez announced to the room. "It took me a while when I first arrived in America to learn the same lesson my friend, so I completely understand."

"It took you a while? We're still waiting, Fez," Hyde cracked, as he opened up a beer.

"So, what have all of you been doing all summer while I've been holed up in my room?" Eric canvassed the basement.

"The usual. Cruising for pool boob," Fez confessed.

"Devil?" He turned to Jackie in question.

"Shopping. Tanning. Looking hot. What else?" she rattled off, with boredom.

"What about you?" Eric asked Hyde.

Hyde's brow furrowed as he tried to thing of a plausible excuse. He mentally kicked himself for not anticipating this line of questioning earlier. "Uh, you know, just stuff. Hung out here. Watched 'The Price is Right'. Smoked a bowl." He breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that would satisfy his friend.

"Really? With who?" his skinny friend followed up.

"You...don't know them," Hyde responded weakly, from behind the safety of his sunglasses. He was more convinced than ever that Jackie was somehow rotting his brain. Fooling Forman should not be this difficult.

Concerned by her secret boyfriend's poor state of mind, Jackie decided to intervene. "I actually ran into a very dear friend of mine at The Hub at the beginning of last week. She's dropping by today, if that's okay with you."

Eric pouted and dropped onto the couch beside her. "I don't know, devil. I mean, it's hard enough for me to be out just with you guys. Not sure I feel like mingling with a new person right now."

At that moment, the basement door swung open and Lucy, dressed in a yellow sundress with her hair cascading down her back, descended the stairs slowly. "Jackie? Fez? Mrs. Forman let me in."

Eric's mouth dropped open as he watched Lucy enter the basement – almost in slow-motion – her golden-brown locks bouncing against her tight body with each step.

"Hey. I'm Lucy. You must be Eric," she smiled, and extended her hand out to greet him.

Instinctively, Eric took her hand and pressed it to his lips. "M'lady."

She giggled at his chivalrous display and retrieved her hand. "I hope it's okay that I just dropped by. Jackie said you wouldn't mind."

"You know, I was just telling her how much I wanted to get out more and meet new people," he lied, happy to be in the presence of such a beautiful girl.

Jackie made eye contact with Hyde, who nodded his approval and gave her a thumbs up. It wouldn't be long now.

* * *

**A/N – I'm trying to keep this story short (compared to the others, which read like the phone book). Hope you're enjoying it! Please review and let me know.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Whole Lotta Love

_You've been learnin', baby, I've been yearnin',  
All them good times, baby, baby, I've been yearnin',  
Way, way down inside honey, you need it,  
I'm gonna give you my love... I'm gonna give you my love. _

- "_Whole Lotta Love"_

* * *

It had been two weeks since Lucy flounced her way into the Formans' basement, and Eric's mood had improved exponentially. What hadn't improved, however, was the amount of alone time Jackie and Hyde were getting to spend together.

In fact, things had actually become much worse. Now, instead of having their normal, all-day fragmented make-out sessions on the couch, they were relegated to chairs on opposite sides of the room from each other, while Eric and Lucy spent hours non-sexually huddled in the center of the sofa watching TV. Getting nookie interrupted several times throughout the day by a smelly guy in a bathrobe suddenly sounded very appealing.

Forman couldn't close the deal, which was no shocker as far as Jackie was concerned, but that didn't explain what Lucy's problem was. She had functioning hands and lips, and Jackie wondered why she couldn't she make something happen with them. Hyde began to wonder if Lucy was even interested.

'The Price is Right' was on, and Eric and Lucy were screaming out guesses, and getting particularly animated. Jackie, who had an ever-present scowl shellacked across her face, leaned back in her chair and tried to make subtle eye contact with Hyde.

He shot Eric and Lucy an angry look and then his gaze settled on Jackie, who was busy pushing her bottom lip out into a full-on pout. Hyde then cocked his head toward his room and announced "I gotta go do something," to nobody in particular, before disappearing behind his bedroom door.

Neither Eric nor Lucy seemed to notice or care that he was gone.

Jackie, curious to know if they'd even detect her standing up much less leaving, rose from her seat and then covertly inched her way down to her man's door, which was helpfully left ajar.

* * *

.

No sooner had she closed the door, than Hyde scooped her up and practically threw her on his bed. He locked the door to his room and then pulled his shirt off, throwing it against the wall as he made his way over to Jackie. "Take your clothes off," he demanded flatly.

Her pulse was racing, and she found herself completely caught off guard by Steven's forcefulness. She had no idea that she could bring out this much passion in anybody, much less a guy who was stoned half the time. Jackie had experience with guys wanting her badly, but it was never this intense. She decided that it must mean that he actually does, maybe, sort of, have a small amount of non-platonic feelings for her. Perhaps.

He got on his knees next to the bed and started to unbutton her shorts.

"What are you doing, Steven?" she practically yelped.

"What the hell does it look like I'm doing? 'The Price is Right' is 30 minutes long, which means I have 25 minutes to look at you naked before Donny & Marie realize we're gone." He yanked down her shorts, letting them pool around her ankles, and them coaxed her legs out of them.

"What exactly can we accomplish in 25 minutes?" she asked, as he unstrapped one of her wedge sandals.

"I'll think of something." He grinned, and took off her other shoe.

Jackie removed her top, and Hyde tossed it toward the new clothes pile on the floor. She sat on his bed and leaned back on his pillow, wearing nothing but a pair of rainbow striped bikini underwear.

His eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head upon first glance. "Damn, Jackie. You look incredible."

She smiled and held out her arms for him to join her.

He quickly stripped himself of his jeans and tucked himself into her arms. Though still separated by some scraps of cotton, this was the first time the two of them had been this naked with each other. He laid his head down onto her chest and let his hands explore her exposed torso.

Neither said a word, they just held each other tenderly as she stroked his hair.

Jackie reveled in their closeness, and it suddenly occurred to her that maybe this was more than just a hookup brought on by summer boredom. Steven was holding her, enjoying her nearness,___not __desperately_trying to get himself off.

In fact, when she thought really hard about it, she didn't ever remember seeing him snuggle another girl before. Or hold anyone's hand. Or even take a chick on a consecutive date.

She could tell he liked her too, and not the way he liked those usual whores he picked up. He hadn't seriously tried to go past 2nd base with her since they started fooling around over a month ago, and they'd been hooking up every single day, every moment they got the chance.

Jackie's eyes lit up and she could feel herself get hot all over.

"Hey," she whispered as he peered up at her from between her breasts. "You like me," she informed him with authority.

His brow furrowed. "What are you talking about? When did I say I hated you?"

"Many times, but that's not what I mean. I mean you_ l____ike _me. A lot." She nearly squealed with excitement.

He looked up at her and said nothing, which for Hyde was as good as a yes, then leaned up and kissed her. "You're still wearing underwear," he complained, pretending to frown.

Jackie took her underwear off and placed it in Hyde's hand. "I like you too, Steven. A lot."

He pulled off his boxers and handed them to her, then they both tossed their underwear into the corner at the same time.

Jackie tried her hardest not to stare, but she couldn't resist the urge to look down, and once she had, she wasn't sorry about it at all. Not one bit.

Hyde noticed her leering at him and smirked. "Lose something down there?"

Caught, she lifted her eyes up with embarrassment and looked away. "I thought I dropped..." she tapered off and decided to give up the ruse.

"I never said you should stop." He smiled as he rubbed up against her slowly.

He felt so warm and his body so strong that she actually considered bypassing 3rd base all together and just hitting it out of the park. "Maybe if we're really quiet, they won't know we're in here?" she suggested, implying that she'd like to make love.

Hyde buried his face in the side of her neck and kissed her. "When I finally take you, there's no way you're going to be able to stay quiet," he whispered behind her ear. "We're not doing that today. Not unless Forman gets the fuck up off that couch."

Jackie's core was on fire. "You can't...you can't just take a girl into your room, strip her naked, rub up all over her and then do___nothing_, Steven! What kind of a gentleman are you?"

"I think your last statement pretty much outlines the ways in which I'm not a gentleman," he joked.

"Stop laughing," she pouted. "I'm in pain."

"Want me to kiss it better?" he offered, only half-kidding.

She smiled and nodded.

Hyde hovered over her and she could feel his naked erection pressing into her thigh as he kissed her.

He worked his way down from her neck to her breasts and took his time.

"I'm starting to think this was a horrible idea." Jackie groaned as she felt her body tingling everywhere. "How are we supposed to stop?"

"You don't want to stop?" he questioned, truly surprised she had planned to go farther with him. He didn't think she was serious earlier.

"Do you?" she countered, and waited for a response.

Hyde thought about that question for a moment and weighed his options. Obviously he wanted to fuck her, that wasn't even up for debate, but he did worry about what that might mean for them afterward. Right now, they were just a couple of friends hooking up for fun, but he knew that going all the way would change things. Sex meant something to Jackie, and he wasn't sure if he was prepared to deal with the fallout from that yet.

Hyde closed his eyes, rested his head against her chest again and thought. Instead of banging the shit out of her right now, he was deliberating on how all of this would affect her. Much to his surprise and dismay, he discovered that sex with Jackie meant something to him, too. "I think we should stop."

* * *

Eric and Lucy were sitting on the couch, discussing the finer points of life on Tatooine.

"What I don't understand is why they were so into moisture farming when they had a rockin' cantina right there, stocked with all sorts of booze. If they can import bottles of intergalactic beer, why can't they import bottles of water?" he asked, revealing the question he's been wondering about for a while now.

"Eric, they aren't importing the beer, they are home-brewing it with the water that's provided by the moisture farmers. No moisture farming, no beer. It's so obvious," she explained, with a toss of her hair.

Her dark golden locks fell back onto her shoulders and swung back and forth, gently caressing the tops of her breasts through her thin white peasant blouse. His eyes followed the entire event from start to finish.

"Eric!" she screamed, trying to get his attention.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, I kind of zoned out there for a minute," he replied, sheepishly.

She pursed her lips and pretended to be angry. "Oh, am I boring you or something?"

"Ha. Nothing about you is boring, Lucy. I was distracted from you by you, if you must know," he admitted with embarrassment.

She looked confused. "You're going to need to elaborate, because I don't get it."

He cleared his throat and fanned himself with his hand. "Is it getting hot in here? Are you hot? I think I'm going to get a Popsicle. Want one? You look like a cherry girl," he guessed, before hopping up to scurry to the deep freeze.

Lucy laughed at his nervousness and shook her head.

As he reached into the deep freeze, Eric cursed himself for being his usual, awkward self in front of the pretty girl. He thought about concocting a cooler, more self-assured persona like Casey Kelso's, but quickly scrapped that idea, figuring it would be too exhausting to keep up for the next 50 years. Plus, the flip side of being cool is being slightly detached, and he definitely couldn't pull off detached, nor did he want to. Better to be himself, he thought, not that he had a choice anyway.

Eric returned with a cherry and a grape Popsicle and held them both out to his date. "Your Popsicle, m'lady. Grape or cherry?"

"You were right about me. I'm a cherry girl," she said with a smile, trying to put him at ease.

They clinked Popsicles and then ate in silence, occasionally stealing looks at each other through the corners of their eyes. Finally, Eric turned to Lucy and steeled himself. "About before...I was too busy looking at you to listen to you, okay? That's why I was distracted."

Her cheeks flushed as red as her Popsicle. "Oh."

"Yeah." He smiled, happy that he had the balls to say what he felt.

They stared ahead for a moment and then both lunged at each other.

* * *

Hyde peeked his head out of his bedroom door and smiled. "He finally manned up," he whispered to Jackie.

"What?" she asked, hopping off the bed to join him at the door. She gingerly peeked out through the crack and her mouth dropped open. "Finally!" she mouthed quietly. "I was starting to think he didn't have it in him."

They closed the door quietly and locked it again.

The air in the room felt heavy with tension. No words had passed between them since Hyde had rejected her.

"Looks like we're stuck in here for a while. So...what do you want to do now?" she asked, sitting self-consciously down on the edge of the cot.

He knew exactly what he wanted to do, but he wasn't going to do it. Not yet, anyway. "You play poker?"

"Well, if you're suggesting strip poker, I'm pretty sure we've both already lost," she said, looking down at her naked body, then quickly realizing she needed to figure out a non-awkward way to get dressed ASAP.

"Chess?" he offered.

"Takes too long." She crossed her arms over her chest for modesty.

He noticed her change in body language immediately and swallowed thickly. The air was getting chilly. "Old Maid," he jokingly suggested.

"Geezer!" she shouted, with a smirk.

Hyde laughed. "We could just do what we were doing before..." he said, approaching the bed.

Jackie looked at him like he was crazy and shook her head. "No thanks."

Hyde's stomach dropped and he wondered for a moment if he'd blown it with her. "Oh?"

"Too frustrating..." she elaborated, as her eyes met his.

"Jackie, I just don't think we should have sex right now."

"Yeah, I got that," she said with a slight edge, as she reached over to grab her shirt. "Don't worry. I'm not going to force myself on you, Steven. If you're not interested, you're not interested." She tried to keep her dignity, but as she poked her head through the blouse, she felt herself die a little inside.

"I never said I wasn't interested."

"You did actually. I know you didn't attend class much, but that's what the word 'no' means," she shot back.

"It's not because I don't want to, Jackie."

She put her hand onto her hip and adopted an aggressive stance. "You're not protecting my feelings by lying to me. You and I both know that guys will even have sex with fat chicks if they're horny enough. If there's some hidden meaning in your rejection, other than the obvious, please feel free to enlighten me now."

He stared at her blank-faced, paralyzed by fear. He didn't want to say too much, but knew that saying too little would have her heading for the door.

"Yeah, I didn't think so." She sighed with disappointment, then willed herself not to cry. "Well, there are plenty of other guys who would kill to be in your place right now. Maybe I'll go find one of them." She started to get up, but he pinned her down firmly to the bed.

"Don't you fucking dare," he growled in a low whisper.

Jackie spontaneously burst into tears and turned her head to avoid looking at him. The embarrassment was crippling, but there was no way out with him on top of her. She wondered if he was prolonging her misery, just for kicks.

Worried that he'd upset her, Hyde released her arms and brought his hands to his head in frustration. He wondered how things had spiraled out of control so quickly. This was exactly the type of scene he was trying to avoid by ___not _sleeping with her. "Please don't cry, Jackie," he begged in a whisper, working hard to sustain a neutral tone.

She turned over and pressed her face into his pillow. "Just leave me alone, Steven. Please? Go away."

He smoothed the crease in his forehead with his thumb and placed a hand on her back, gently moving it in delicate, soothing circles. "No."

As she calmed, her breathing became less labored. He watched her lying there, her hair a tangled mess wearing a crumpled up blouse with her bare ass hanging out and he smiled. She looked painfully beautiful like that to him, just as gorgeous as when she dressed up for a night out on the town. He knew she wouldn't think so, but he did. For once, he was glad to be trapped in that cramped, ugly room, because it meant she couldn't leave either, and the idea that she might want to made his head hurt.

He leaned over and kissed her on the back through her shirt, then slowly pulled her blouse up and gently peppered her bare back with more kisses.

Jackie held her breath and wondered what he was doing. She also wondered what the hell she was doing. This whole afternoon was beyond confusing and she just didn't have the energy to think about anything anymore, much less get up and leave.

Hyde climbed onto the bed and covered her body with his own. He pulled her hair aside and kissed the back of her neck. "Please turn around, Jackie," he whispered.

With all of her fight gone now, she willingly complied.

He carefully smoothed the hair out of her face, wiped her remaining tears with the pad of his thumb, and kissed her on the forehead. She stared up at him, passively waiting to see what would happen next.

He kissed her nose next, then each cheek and finally leveled a soft, chaste kiss on her lips.

Jackie gasped. She had no idea what any of this meant, but the way it made her feel was incredible. Nobody had ever looked at her so tenderly before – not her parents, and certainly not Michael Kelso.

Hyde then laid his body next to hers on the cot and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly against his chest. They remained silent in their embrace, both wondering what the hell had just passed between them.

* * *

After 20 minutes of making out, Eric and Lucy decided to come up for some air.

"That was..." Eric exhaled loudly and smiled.

"Yeah." She smiled back, also trying to catch her breath.

"I was thinking...maybe...are you hungry? I'm starving."

"I could always eat." Lucy shrugged.

"How about you let me buy you a milkshake at The Hub?"

"Right now?" she asked excitedly.

"It's milkshake weather. We really owe it to ourselves to make the most of the three weeks of summer before winter immediately sets in," he joked.

Lucy laughed. "So...is this like, a date?"

"Would you like it to be?" he ventured.

She nodded. "I think I would like that, Eric Forman."

"Then, it's a date." Eric winked and helped her off of the couch.

The two of them headed up the stairs and out of the basement, and the door slammed shut with a loud

bang.

* * *

As the loud bang of the door shutting reverberated off of the walls of the basement, Jackie's eyes fluttered open.

They both had drifted off, but she was restless. Her swirling emotions were starting to make her feel both dizzy and nauseated. She had to get out of there.

Very carefully, Jackie slipped out from under Hyde's arm and slid onto the floor. She pulled on her shorts forgoing underwear for speed of flight, and grabbed her shoes and bag.

As silently as possible, and without looking back, she crept out of Hyde's room and closed the door behind her.

* * *

The next morning, Hyde waited in his usual seat, eyes glued to the door, waiting for reason for waking up that Sunmer to come barreling in, but she never did. In fact, three days passed and she still hadn't come to the basement.

Lucy and Eric canoodled together on the couch for a while, before they gathered their things and headed up the stairs.

"We're going to the reservoir this afternoon. You want to come with, Hyde?" he asked, sensing something to be off with his good buddy.

"Yeah, come join us, Hyde. It's more fun when there's a group," Lucy offered.

Hyde adjusted his glasses and shook his head. "Nah, man. I've got some stuff going on around here that I've got to take care of. I'll catch up with you guys later."

Eric knew deep down this was a lie, but decided to let his bearded friend save face. Whatever was bothering him would still likely be bothering him in a few hours when they could speak privately. Of all people, he was more aware than anyone that pushing Hyde to do something he didn't want to do would only backfire and make things worse. "Uh, okay. We'll grab a beer later, yeah?"

Hyde nodded and continued to pretend he was watching TV.

As the basement door shut, Hyde felt alone for the first time all summer and it sucked. He'd spent so much time trying to get Forman out of the house, and now that he did, he couldn't regret it more.

Just as he had decided the occasion required a private circle, he heard the door handle jiggle.

"Jackie?" he asked hopefully as the door cracked open.

Disappointment set in once he realized the new visitor was much browner and taller than the brunette he had in mind.

"No, it is Fez," the heavily-accented man said, as he entered the room.

"What the hell happened to you, man?" Hyde asked, catching a glimpse of Fez's bright, new shiner.

"Oh, apparently those signs on the locker room at the pool aren't just suggestions, as I had originally thought," he explained.

"What?" His face crinkled in confusion. As usual, he didn't understand Fez, and he wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to, either.

"You know, the signs with the man and the woman on the front door? I thought those were suggestions-you know, like optional."

Hyde nodded, now getting a handle on what had gone down. "You were caught peeping in the women's locker room."

"Yes, that's right." Fez admitted.

He laughed. "So what—some chick's boyfriend caught you looking and gave you that shiner?"

The foreigner stared at his friend and hesitated. "Boyfriend? Um, sure. Let's go with that."

Fez walked across the room, pulled a Popsicle out of the deep freeze and brought it to his eye. "Aiy! My eye," he said sadly.

Hyde cleared his throat nervously. "Hey, uh, you seen Jackie around anywhere? Just asking because she hasn't been here and you know, I just want to make sure I know which places I need to avoid."

"She's been at the public pool for the last few days getting tan. Her skin is now a golden bronze, like a Grecian goddess, and she was wearing this purple bikini that was so small and tight that it was giving me needs...I really love the summer," he reminisced with a dreamy smile.

Hyde could feel the anger building in his core and clenched his fists. She wasn't coming today and probably not ever again. Thinking about her lying out half-naked at the pool where any dumb schmuck could just ogle her and fantasize about her was making him sick.

A few days ago she was lying down fully-naked in his bed, begging him to have his way with her, and he was too much of a chicken shit to take the leap. He wanted her then, but didn't want the complication. Too bad he didn't realize at the time that the way he felt about her ___was _the complication, and it was his, whether he wanted it or not. The sex would have been incidental.

"Fuck!" he cursed to himself, before pulling his keys out of his pocket and heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" Fez whined from atop the deep freeze.

"Out!"

* * *

**A/N – Hope you're all enjoying this one. Smut is coming!**

**.**

**PLEASE let me know what you think of this chapter! I really get excited whenever I read one of your reviews. Registered/unregistered, I'm not picky, I just want to hear from you :)**


	4. Chapter 4 - You Make Lovin' Fun

**A/N - Hey everybody-hope you're enjoying this story so far. Just wanted to give you a heads up - I totally caved (of course) and wrote a little sMut, so you can brace yourself for some rated M material at the bottom of the chapter. It will be very obvious when you're veering into that territory, so people who aren't into the M stuff will know when to activate their parachutes.**

* * *

_I never did believe in miracles,_  
_But I've a feeling it's time to try._  
_I never did believe in the ways of magic,_  
_But I'm beginning to wonder why._

_- 'You Make Lovin' Fun'_

* * *

**CHAPTER 4**

Hyde walked briskly up the dusty walkway to the city pool and peered inside the gate. As it had been every day that week, the patio area was packed with young turks, just itching for a cool dip, a patch of shade and a free peek at hot girl in a bikini.

It wouldn't have mattered if there were hundreds of people there, because he noticed Jackie instantly, it would be impossible not to. Her body was as lithe and goddess brown as Fez had mentioned, and her dewy skin shimmered with a light sheen of sweat. No doubt, she smelled like those salted caramels from the boardwalk, and if he stared hard enough, he could almost imagine what she tasted like too. Jackie was incredible, and she knew it.

A small group of guys hovered nearby, trying to catch a look at her without getting caught, but she wouldn't have yelled at them even if she'd noticed. Today, she needed that kind of cheap attention. It was the main reason she was at the public pool instead of the one in her backyard, which was way nicer.

Jackie was rejected by a guy, and that had never happened before in her entire life. She didn't know what to make of it, or how to deal with it, since the one thing she'd always been able to rely on from as early as she could remember was her looks. If she couldn't count on those anymore, she felt she truly had nothing.

One kid in particular was perched by her side on the next chair, attempting to charm her despite his lack of wit and personality.

Hyde sucked up his nerves and approached her. He figured that he had embarrassed her pretty badly a few days ago and it was probably his turn now, that was only fair. He stood over her, seemingly unnoticed by her closed eyes.

Feeling a cold shadow abruptly cast upon her, Jackie frowned. "You're blocking my light," she admonished the interloper, keeping her eyelids tightly shut.

"Jackie, I need to talk to you," he started.

Her eyes popped open with surprise and a fresh wave of humiliation washed over her. "I'm busy," she said flatly, and attempted to appear bored by his presence.

"Come on." He was earnest and hoped she'd pick up on the unusual sincerity in his voice.

"Sorry. No time," she snapped, shutting him down without another glance.

Hyde was pissed. He knew he had fucked up, but she was overreacting. They'd known each for years, spend nearly every single day either loathing or longing for each other in that time, and now he didn't rank enough to be given the time of day? He wouldn't just let her dismiss him like that, not after what had passed between them. She owed him more than that. "Look, you can come with me somewhere private or I can embarrass you by talking about it here in front of all of your friends, it's your choice, doll."

Jackie slid her sunglasses to the end of her nose and glared at him. "I said I'm busy right now. I'm hanging out with...what was your name again?" she asked, limply gesturing to the to the jock who was trying to chat her up.

"Joe," the kid replied eagerly, happy that she was finally acknowledging his presence and apparently choosing him over the another guy.

"Get lost, Joe," Hyde ordered curtly.

"Steven..." Jackie warned sternly.

"What's your problem man? I was here first," the meathead insisted, hoping Hyde was hip to the bro code.

"Yeah, and you're gonna leave first, too." His face was as sharp as steel, just daring the guy to fuck with him.

"Why should I?"

Hyde smiled smugly at Joe and cracked his knuckles. "You ever wonder what the inside of a jail cell looks like? I don't."

Sensing this was not somebody to be trifled with, the failed suitor made a speedy exit. "Nice meeting you Jackie. I'll, uh...see you around."

Jackie pushed her glasses back into place, stood up from her lounge chair and glowered hotly at her once secret lover. "You had no right to do that!"

"Yeah, probably not. But it happened, so get over it." Hyde held his ground.

Flustered by his brazenness, she shot him a withering stare. "I think you need to take your own advice, Steven. I'm not interested anymore. Get over it."

He met her eyes and smirked. "Nope."

Her mouth dropped open and she struggled to regain control. No man had ever tried to boss Jackie Burkhart around before, much less deny her orders. "Fine. Stay pathetic," she sniffed, then plopped back down on the edge of her chair and picked up a Cosmo magazine.

Another jock approached Jackie to offer his services. "Hey, is this guy bothering you?"

She smiled adoringly at the new guy and batted her eyelashes. "No. I barely even noticed him standing there. Would you mind doing me a favor while you're here though?"

"Anything!" The jock was smitten, and let his eyes take a slow tour of her barely-dressed body.

Jackie dug through her beach bag and handed him a tube of sunblock. "Would you mind getting my back?"

"That's it!" Hyde growled before lifting Jackie off of the seat and throwing her over his shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed, and tried to kick him.

"Something I should have done a long time ago," he snapped back, adding a stinging slap to her ass for good measure after she punched him hard in the kidney. "Down girl."

"Steven! You put me down right now or you are going to SO regret it, mister!" she screamed, squirming and kicking her legs wildly without a pause as he stomped out of the pool area and back down the dirt-covered path to the parking lot.

"I already do Jackie. Believe me."

* * *

Hyde carried Jackie over to the El Camino and placed her on her feet. She took one look at him and swiftly kicked him in the shin.

"Shit!" He winced and doubled over for a minute.

"You deserved that," she said defensively, and then crossed her arms protectively over her chest.

"Okay, fine. You got your shot in. Are you done?" He grit his teeth and shook off the pain.

"Depends on what comes out of your mouth next."

The fighting was easy, but this was the part he knew he'd have trouble with. He'd never had to have a conversation with a girl past 'my place or yours' or 'can I get you another drink?'. Chatting about feelings was as confusing as Calculus to him. Actually, it was harder, since he knew he could at least get Donna to tutor him in math. "I wanted to...I wanted to talk about the other day..."

She burst out laughing and pointed at him in disbelief. "You? You wanted to _talk_? Is that some sort of a joke?"

"Apparently, since you're laughing." Hyde grit his back teeth even harder and tried to slough off the disgrace. "You know what? Forget it." He pulled the keys out of his jeans pocket and moved to swipe Jackie to the side so he could pass.

Jackie suddenly felt slightly bad, but mainly very curious and grabbed onto his forearm. "No. Come on. I'll stop laughing. I know Hailey's Comet comes around more often than you want to talk to people, so I'll be good."

"You sure you're capable?" he asked, unable to resist getting in a dig of his own.

"Not really, so I guess we'll both be trying something new." She gave him a coy, half-smile and he felt his stomach clench.

Hyde looked at Jackie and echoed her smile. He couldn't keep it in. She was as smart as a whip and as dangerous too, and the combination was heady. Something about her just made him feel alive in ways he'd never experienced before, both good and bad.

"The other day, when you asked me if I wanted to...um, stop, and I said yes, it wasn't for the reason you thought, Jackie," he explained, finding each word as difficult as the next to expel through his lips.

She swallowed thickly and tried to remind herself to breathe. She had no idea where this was going, but she knew this was way out of Hyde's comfort zone, so she knew it must've been important "Okay. What was the reason then?"

"It was for the opposite of the reason that you thought," Hyde confessed, trying to tell her what he was feeling without actually telling her.

She scrunched up her face and looked up at him with confusion. "What? You rejected me because you wanted me? Is that a riddle?"

"Come on, Jackie," he huffed. "This whole talking thing isn't exactly my bag, okay?"

"Fine. Sorry." She shrugged and waited patiently for him to clarify.

"You thought I stopped things because I didn't want you, but really, it was because...I did. A lot. I didn't want to do something until I knew for sure." He exhaled roughly, hoping she would get what he was saying this time.

"Knew what for sure?" she asked, genuinely befuddled.

Hyde ran his hand through his hair and looked around him. "I thought you were supposed to be smart."

She pursed her lips and searched his eyes for the meaning of his words. Suddenly, like a thunderbolt, it hit her. "Oh my God!" She shrieked, and brought her hands up to her mouth. "You really do like me!"

"Settle down, Jackie. There are people around." He averted his eyes nervously from the passing group of kids and kept them focused on her.

"But you do like me?" she asked, needing confirmation. "That's what you're saying?"

He shrugged resentfully. "Yeah. Okay?"

A brilliant smile overtook her face that made the last three days of agony worth it. "I can't believe it," she said quietly, almost to herself. "I was beginning to think that you did, but then after you rejected me I figured I was imagining things, so I assumed you still hated me like always."

"Well, you assumed wrong. Besides, how could I hate a chick who looks this ridiculously hot in a bikini?" he asked, gesturing to her body.

Jackie immediately closed the gap between them, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him soundly, then pulled her legs up and wrapped them around his waist. He liked her - a_ctually_ liked her - and not just because of her looks. He wouldn't put himself through something like this, just for a piece of tail. That much, she knew about him.

"We're in public," Hyde reminded her, almost laughing at the absurdity of their situation. He slipped his hands under her bottom to support her weight, as she continued her amorous assault.

"I don't care," she murmured into his neck as she nuzzled him. "Take me home now."

His eyebrows arched. "Are you saying...?"

She felt suddenly shy and dropped her legs. "If you want to, and I'm guessing you do or you wouldn't have gone to all this trouble."

Hyde buried his nose deep into her hair and inhaled her scent. "I guess."

"You guess? You're going to have to do better than that if this is gonna work," she whispered hotly in his ear.

"Fine. I do, though I'm not totally convinced that we _will_ work, doll."

Jackie pulled back and smiled at him. "Oh we SO will work, Steven. You just watch."

* * *

Eric and Lucy were sprawled out on a picnic blanket enjoying the sun. There was a comfortable silence between the two as Eric ate an apple and Lucy attempted to do a charcoal sketch of her surroundings.

"Almost done," she sang, her concentration suddenly forcing her tongue through clenched teeth.

"And then I can see? I'm dying to get a look at what you've been scribbling away at." Eric attempted to steal another peek.

Lucy held the sketch to her chest and narrowed her gaze. "You've waited an hour, you can wait five more minutes."

He looked around bored and then opened a soda. "It's weird. I haven't been here in months, but I used to come all the time."

Lucy's hand brushed a piece of charcoal back and forth quickly over the page. "Really? Why?"

"My friends and I used to go skinny-dipping at night here."

She looked up from her paper in shock. "You went skinny-dipping in the reservoir? Isn't that illegal?" She turned back to her drawing and then stopped again. "Were these guy or girl friends?"

"Both." He laughed and then quickly stopped, hoping she didn't think he was some sort of sexual deviant.

She used her thumb to shade an object on the page. "Wow. Who are these girls who agreed to be naked in front of you and your guy friends? I can't imagine Jackie doing this."

"Oh Jackie did it alright. Of course, she got sick immediately afterward. Leave it to her to ruin a good time," he cracked.

"Who else?" Lucy was unsubtle in her fish for more information.

Eric sighed. He knew he'd have to tell her about Donna eventually, but he wanted it to see where things were going first. He was enjoying having an air of mystery about him for once, and didn't relish Lucy looking at him with sad eyes once she found out how heartbroken he was just a few weeks prior.

"My ex used to come with us," he finally confessed.

"Donna?"

Eric was flabbergasted that Lucy knew about Donna. He assumed that Jackie and her big mouth were the culprits, though in all honestly, he was kind of relieved not to have to broach this subject with her from scratch. He ran his hands through his hair and wondered how much Jackie had told her.

"Yeah. She's in California for the summer. That's why you haven't met her yet."

Lucy put her sketchbook to the side and gave Eric her full attention. "Wait, you still hang out with her?"

"Well...yeah. I mean, we were friends for years before we started dating. Also, she lives next door." He smiled adorably to take the sting out of the revelation.

"To _you_?" She was trying to act cool about it, but she couldn't cover the fact that she was getting visibly upset.

Eric swallowed hard. "Uh-huh. But you know, it's no big deal. It's not that awkward or anything, you know, because she's Jackie's best friend."

"It's weird that you hang out with your ex," Lucy mused aloud.

"Jackie's ex is part of our group too, so for us, it's normal."

"Who's Jackie's ex? Hyde?"

Eric laughed so hard that he had trouble breathing. "He's probably the last person she'd ever go out with!"

Lucy's brows knit in thought. Though she hadn't caught them doing anything specific, she always assumed that Jackie and Hyde had a thing for each other. She often caught them looking at each other in a way that suggested they were about to tear each other's clothes off. The sexual tension in the room was palpable whenever they were together. She wondered if she was hallucinating the whole thing or if Eric was quite possibly the least observant person she'd ever come across. "But, they seem..."

"...like they hate each other? That's because they do. Jackie's ex is a guy named Michael Kelso," Eric said.

"How come I haven't met him?"

Suddenly, it occurred to Eric just how strange his group of friends probably appeared to the outside world. "He's in California...with Donna."

Her eyes grew wide. "They're_ together_? Oh, how awful for you and Jackie!"

"No, they're just friends. Kelso sort of told Jackie he'd marry her and then immediately took off with Donna to escape the commitment," he said, filling in more of the gory details.

"Oh my God. He sounds horrible. And this Donna, she went on a trip with this guy after he screwed over her best friend? What a bitch," Lucy said with a scowl. She didn't know Jackie too well, and what she saw she wasn't exactly in love with, but nobody deserved to have their best friend treat them that way.

Eric bristled. "Donna isn't a bitch, Lucy. Kelso's just a moron with a van and she needed a ride."

"Well, I wouldn't hitch a ride with my best friend's no-count boyfriend and then hang out with him all summer at the beach, but then again, I'm a loyal friend," she sniped and picked up her sketch pad once more.

Feeling this conversation veer into uncomfortable territory, Eric decided the best course of action would be to change the subject. "So, you've never gone skinny-dipping, have you?"

She almost got whiplash from the segue-free subject transition, but she decided to go with it. Thinking about Eric's cold-hearted ex-girlfriend was pissing her off.

"No. Of course not." She tittered with embarrassment and wondered briefly if she looked like the girl of girl who would take her clothes off in mixed company.

"Do you want to do it now?" he offered, praying she would say yes.

"No! Somebody could see us!"

Eric maneuvered himself closer to her. "That's what makes it exciting! That, and the part where I pretend I'm covering my eyes while you get in the water, but really I'm checking you out through the gaps in my fingers." He demonstrated with his hands.

Lucy smacked his arm playfully. "If I ever agreed to go skinny-dipping with you, which is a total longshot, you wouldn't have to pretend to cover your eyes, but you've got to leave your buddies at home."

"I'm sorry, it sounded like you just said you'd let me see you naked," Eric teased, hoping upon hope that she was serious.

Lucy tossed her sketchpad over to Eric. He lifted it to look at the drawing and smiled. The sketch was of Eric, wearing Luke Skywalker's white Jedi training outfit, holding a lightsaber.

"Holy crap. You're only like, the best artist ever!" he beamed, while admiring the drawing.

"I only draw things how I see 'em." She sighed, and laid her head down on Eric lap as he continued to examine her artwork."

* * *

Hyde opened the door to the basement and peered inside. "It's all clear," he reported to Jackie before dragging her down the stairs by her hand.

"Are you still sure you want to do this?" he wondered, not quite fully believing she'd be willing to give herself to a bum like him.

"Why? Did you change your mind?" she asked nervously, bracing herself for the worst.

He placed a hand on either side of her face and pulled her toward him for a kiss. "There is nothing I want to do more right now than bang the crap out of you."

Jackie placed a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow in his direction to signify her displeasure.

"I'm kidding!" He laughed and kissed her again. "Man, you're easy to wind up. I may not always say the right thing, but I'm not a total idiot."

She tapped her foot and waited for him to elaborate. "Of course I want to be with you Jackie. A lot. And often."

"Aww, that's the sweetest thing anybody's ever said to me, Steven," she cooed, and kissed him again.

Hyde absorbed the comment with ambivalence. "Whatever."

Jackie smiled and took his hand as he led her to his bedroom.

"We should put on some music, Steven. Just in case somebody walks into the basement."

"Good call, but I'm warning you, it's not going to be anything too romantic, okay? If people come down here I don't want them to think I'm in here jerking off to Barry White." He quickly grabbed a record and placed it on the turnstile.

"Is Barry White the music you use to pleasure yourself to?" she asked, both amused and a little bit turned on.

He looked at her like he'd just eaten a bad nut. "A) I don't pleasure myself, I jerk off, and B) I don't get myself in the mood for it with Barry White."

"Oh..." she remarked, a vague look of disappointed overcast her face.

Hyde was thoroughly amused. If he weren't 'into' Jackie right now, she would have just now provided her enough fodder for six months worth of mocking. "Why Jackie? Which music do you put on when you're 'pleasuring yourself'?" he asked, using air quotes.

Her face remained flat. "I don't do that."

He tilted his head and wagged his finger in her face. "Oh, I think you doo-oo," he nearly sang, in the same way Kitty always did when she called him out on something.

"Why would I need to do that when I'm so beautiful? It's not like I don't have guys lining up around the block who would give up their right arm for a chance to pleasure me." Jackie's eyes flitted around the room apprehensively.

"Well, I still think you do. I mean, you were dating Kelso. That couldn't have left you too satisfied afterward," Hyde suggested maliciously, hoping she'd confirm his suspicions about his friend.

"I'm not talking about Michael with you." Her mood shifted slightly.

Hyde felt a lump form in his throat and he swallowed it down. "Yeah well, when I picture you taking care of yourself, you're listening to Fleetwood Mac."

Jackie's eyes grew wide and she wondered how the hell he knew this. She got nervous for a moment that he might be spying on her. "How did you...? And why are you picturing me pleasuring myself anyway, Steven?" She slapped his arm.

Hyde backed her up against the wall and pulled the knot on her sarong, dropping it to the floor. "I picture you doing a lot of dirty things when I'm alone in the dark," he said, as he pulled her hair to the side and began to tenderly kiss her neck.

"You do?" Jackie sighed, her breathing starting to speed up.

He took the tip of her earlobe in his mouth and rolled his tongue over it. "Oh yeah. I picture you doing lots of stuff. Sometimes alone. Sometimes with me," he whispered down her wet neck, sending shivers everywhere. He pulled out the neck strap of her bikini top and watched it fall down and expose her soft breasts to him.

"What am I doing, you know, when you're thinking of me?" she asked, as she closed her eyes and ran her hands over his ass.

"Well..." he started to mouth his way down to her breasts. "Sometimes I'm taking your nipple in my mouth like this," he demonstrated and her back arched hard, then gently tweaked her other nipple between his fingertips until it puckered.

A moan escaped her lips and he could feel himself getting rock hard. She looked so sexy at that moment, that he wondered if it would be possible for him to get off without her even touching him. He reached around and pulled the back string on her bikini top, sending it tumbling to the floor in a clump.

"Jesus," Jackie panted, as he walked her in reverse toward the cot. The back of her knees hit the frame of the bed and she fell on to the mattress laughing and pulled him down with her.

Hyde lifted his shirt off and threw it in the corner along with his jeans, then crawled over her.

Jackie grabbed the sunglasses off of his face.

"Hey," he snapped, and tried to take them back.

She held them aloft, just out of his reach behind her. "Unacceptable. No way." She looked at him with a resolve that made him cave immediately.

"Fine," he acquiesced, and tossed them onto his shelf to avoid them getting crushed.

She could see the outline of his erection through his boxers and she ran her finger along it, which made him inhale sharply. "You're still sure you want to be doing this?"

"So...what usually happens next?" She was nearly purring under his hands with a lustful smile plastered on her face.

"Well...in my mind, you've got your arms over your head, like this." Hyde pinned her arms above her, then rubbed the tip of his nose down the entire length of he body, stopping at the apex of her thighs, where he licked her hard through her swimsuit bottoms, enjoying her heat and wetness.

"Oh my God," Jackie gasped with excitement. "And then what?"

He pulled her bikini bottoms down slowly, making her wait, and then dropped them on the floor. "And then..." Hyde hopped up on his knees, dropped the needle on the record and turned the player on. The song 'You Make Loving Fun', by Fleetwood Mac started to play.

Jackie looked up at him with a grin in her eyes. "You are sneaky."

"Always," he said mischievously, before returning to his position over her.

Jackie pulled him down for a kiss, stealing his breath with her intensity until they were both dizzy with want. Her hand reached down the front of his boxers and he groaned from her touch, as she began to stroke him.

Hyde worked his way back up to her throat. "Then, I would take my fingers..." he rasped, as he dragged them down her body, "...and I'd stick them inside of you, just to see how much you wanted me."

He rubbed her core for a few minutes and then slipped a finger inside and began stroking her with it. "Damn Jackie, you are so fucking wet."

He hips bucked forward as she ground herself into his hand to increase the friction. "I want you inside of me," she whispered, as she licked the length of his neck and nipped his earlobe.

Without waiting for further instruction, Hyde pulled down his boxers and positioned himself at her entrance. He looked her in the eyes, wanting to make sure that she was okay with what they were about to do, because there was no going back after they'd done it.

She could see the hesitation in his eyes and snapped "If you ask me one more time whether or not I'm sure, I'm walking out of here."

With that, Hyde plunged into her, causing both of them gasp with their first contact.

"Shit. Jackie, you feel amazing," he panted, as he started to move inside of her.

Jackie moaned softy and draped her hands over his behind, pulling him closer until he filled her entirely. It was then that it hit her - she was no longer with Michael. That part of her life was now finished. He had been the first and until now, the only one whom she'd shared herself with, but as Steven stroked her insides, she realized that she didn't want Michael anymore. She'd wanted him for as long as she could remember and now she didn't - not when she could have this - and God did she want this.

As he pumped into her harder, she could feel herself getting close and her breathing became ragged and uneven. She looked into Hyde's eyes and was transfixed by the color. It reminded her of lazy summer days they'd all spent over the years, lying on their backs in the Pinciotti's back yard, gazing up into the sky. Those were some of the only times she ever felt truly free.

Hyde rocked into her harder, over and over again, until her insides quivered and she felt a wave of pleasure push her over the edge into a flash of white. She mumbled his name into his chest and he groaned, releasing into her with a shudder as his face contorted beautifully, and he called out for her in kind.

They held each other tightly and waited for their breathing to return to normal.

Hyde was overwhelmed. Sex had never been like this before for him, so connected. He felt like spilling his guts to her – about his past, his feelings, the things he'd done wrong in the world - but instead he just kissed her temple softly and pulled her closer. She was doing things to him that he couldn't control and he both hated and loved her for it.

The only other time he'd even felt something close to this was when he went to Vanstock, and some people there were handing out these flat white pills that they claimed would make everything feel better. He was always up for something that would make him feel better, so he took two, but when they kicked in, his skin felt like it was rubbed raw. Every time somebody brushed up against him, it felt ten times more intense than would normally, which made things both amazing and horrible - sometimes at the same time. That's how it was with Jackie. Everything felt ten times more intense.

He stayed inside of her, not daring to pull out until "Rumors" ran it's course, and the only sound in the room was the record needle brushing over the lip of the vinyl, again and again.

* * *

**A/N – you wanted sMut, well you got it. You knew I'd fold, right?**

**I'm dying to know what you thought of this chapter, so please leave a review if you have the time, it would mean a lot. Anons are welcome :)**


	5. Chapter 5 - Magic Carpet Ride

**I'm a big fat liar, because there is totally more sMut at the end of this chapter. **

* * *

_Well, you don't know what _  
_We can find _  
_Why don't you come with me little girl _  
_On a magic carpet ride_

_- "Magic Carpet Ride"_

* * *

**CHAPTER 5**

The heat wave had finally broken, but it was followed by two days of torrential rain. Between the lackluster Summer programming on T.V. and the relentless board games, which all seemed to be missing several crucial pieces, everybody as climbing the walls and getting on each other's nerves. The boredom was crippling.

Lucy tried to distract the others by teaching them body painting, but that only made everyone sexually frustrated, which resulted in a rather tense afternoon that quickly devolved into something akin to a chapter from 'Lord of the Flies', with Hyde and Eric standing on chairs, screaming at each other and throwing things from opposite ends of the couch while the rest of the kids in the basement took sides.

By the time the rain had finally stopped they were all desperate to leave the basement - but as usual - nobody could agree on where to go or what to do.

Jackie played target practice near the shower by shooting M&M's across the room into Fez's mouth with a lackluster vigor.

"Only the green ones, my goddess! The green ones are lucky!" Fez opened his mouth wider and signaled for her to start throwing them again.

She sighed heavily, and then tossed an M&M into the air, which Fez caught expertly between his teeth. By the time he'd realized that she'd tossed him a brown one by mistake, he had already clamped down and it and the damage was done. "You whore! That was a brown one!"

Jackie thought it would be funny, but Fez was too deep into his cabin fever to take any joke lightly. "But you're a brown one too, Fezzy. You know how I like things to match." She shrugged innocently, and perched herself on the arm of the couch.

Fez's anger melted. "You know I cannot stay mad at you, my queen, especially not when you have my best interest at heart."

"I totally do," she purred, then threw a green M&M up into the air and caught it in her own mouth. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Hyde looking on with amusement.

"I thought we could do something illegal today," Hyde suggested, not exactly sure what he had in mind.

"Like what?" Eric was game for anything that didn't involve staying inside.

"I hope you're not serious, Eric," Lucy said with a frown, a little disappointed in his immaturity.

He wasn't sure how to respond, because he was completely serious, but he was now also completely sure his new girlfriend did not approve. "Uh...why don't we pick something that everybody would enjoy."

"What? Like a compromise?" Jackie sneered and made a sour face. "I don't really do those."

"I would like to go to the beach. I heard on the news that the tide is going to be rough, which means bikini tops will be a'flying," Fez piped in.

"Gross!" She shot Fez a look of disapproval and frowned. "I vote no. As much as I'd love to work on my tan, nothing is worth watching you with your tongue out all day."

"I'm going to have to side with Jackie on this one." Lucy looked at Jackie and pretended to gag.

"I don't care where we go, as long as beer makes an appearance," Eric declared.

Fez clapped his hands with excitement. "I have the perfect idea!"

Eric took a deep breath and braced himself. He fleetingly wondered if he should make an excuse for Lucy to leave the room, fearing the suggestion might be a little too 'Fez' for delicate sensibilities, but quickly decided against it. "Alright. Let's hear it."

"Hyde would like to do something illegal, Fez would like to see boobies, Jackie would like to work on her tan, Eric wants to drink beer and Lucy likes to paint," he said, enumerated the list of requests on his slender fingers. "I can think of only one activity and place that will satisfy all of our desires."

"Okay. Spit it out already, dipshit!" Sometimes Hyde wished Fez's English hadn't improved as much as it had.

Fez opened his arms wide and presented his idea like he was reading the Declaration of Independence. "We shall paint a giant boob on the water tower!"

Jackie tilted her head to the side. "It _does_ fulfill all of our requirements..."

"I'm in," Hyde said, in agreement.

"Eric, I don't think this is a good idea." Lucy gave Eric a concerned look. "We could get arrested."

He looked at his friends and then his girl and quickly figured out where his bread was buttered. "Lucy is right guys. I don't want to jeopardize my future over some silly stunt."

Hyde was visibly aghast and Jackie forced herself to stifle a giggle.

"Will you take me for a milkshake before I have to head into work?" Lucy asked her boyfriend.

"But of course, m'lady. Something sweet for my sweet." He shot his friends an apologetic look before ushering Lucy out.

Jackie rolled her eyes at him and followed the couple to the foot of the stairs, finding it oddly difficult to turn away. "Huh. I never thought these words would ever come out of my mouth, but I think Eric is losing his edge."

"I think Eric needs a new girlfriend who isn't completely lame," Hyde grumbled.

"Oh come on. He seems really happy, we should probably encourage this," she said, disagreeing with him.

"Well, if we're not painting a boob on the water tower, then I'm going to go. The beach is only open a few more weeks and after that its sweater season. Good day." Fez bid adieu with a half bow and ran up the staircase and out of the house.

* * *

Jackie fake pouted, not really all that bothered by the turn of events. "I thought we were going to get to do something fun and illegal."

Hyde chuckled at her disappointment and threw and arm around her shoulders. "Wow. I am a terrible influence on you. I'll tell you what, baby. I know something illegal we can do together...at least, it's illegal in most states."

Jackie wormed out from under Hyde's arm and glared at him. "I already told you, I am NOT doing that."

He smiled at her, unflinchingly.

"NO!" She held a firm finger in his face and tried to remain severe, despite his close proximity.

He leaned forward and took her finger into his mouth. Jackie gasped and then smiled coquettishly at her secret lover. "The answer is still no, Steven."

He shrugged and removed her finger from his mouth. "It was worth a try."

"Well, if we're not painting a boob on the water tower, then I'm going to head out too," she teased and turned to go, knowing full well he would stop her with his body.

He grabbed onto her hips and pulled her against him. "Not so fast, babydoll. We've been trapped inside with these jokers for two days and I have a raging hard-on with your name on it."

Jackie pretended to be flattered. "Really Puddin'? It actually has my name on it? I've got to see that."

She turned around and unzipped Hyde's jeans, then shoved her hand inside.

At that moment, the basement door swung open and Lucy flew down the stairs, grinding to a halt when she came across Jackie and Hyde in their compromising position. "I left my cardigan on the...oh!"

A look of horror overtook Jackie's striking features. "Uh...Hyde stole one of my earrings and shoved it down his pants, and I was just trying to get it back," she explained, hoping to God that Lucy was stupider than she looked.

Lucy couldn't turn away and Jackie was frozen with her hand still trapped down the front of Hyde's pants.

"I'm pretty sure she's not buying this, Jackie," Hyde said, gently breaking it to her.

"Shh! She hasn't said anything yet," Jackie hissed, still clinging to desperate hope.

Hyde looked down at his girlfriend and shook his head. She awkwardly retrieved her hand and he zipped his jeans up.

"So...what exactly do you know?" Jackie asked Lucy.

Still in shock, Lucy lowered herself into a chair. "I had a feeling something was going on between you two, but I didn't realized it had gotten this far. When did all of this happen?"

"About a week after school ended." Jackie felt a release of sorts by finally getting to tell somebody about her affair. Despite her resentment of Donna's choice of Summer plans, she was still her best friend, and not having her girlfriend to chat about Hyde with was killing her. She'd talk to some of her cheerleader friends, if they weren't the type of gossip mongers who would delight in spreading around the rumor that she was 'slumming it', which would piss Steven off and send Michael into a depression.

Lucy's eyebrows raised. "So...that's like six weeks ago you hooked up!"

"Seven," Jackie corrected.

"And you guys have been fooling around this entire time?"

They looked at each other and then both nodded.

Lucy blew out a stream of air and shook her head. "Well, I can say for sure that Eric has no idea."

"And he can't know. You can't tell him!" Hands pressed together, Jackie pleaded with her.

Lucy's brow crinkled. "Why? I mean, you're both single. What's the big deal?"

Jackie and Hyde laughed heartily.

"Look, my boyfriend..." Jackie could feel Hyde boring a hole through her skull with his eyes and rephrased. "I mean, my _ex_-boyfriend, Michael, is one of Steven's best friends. He cannot find out about us this way. It's going to take a long time for us to figure out a way to break it to him...and that's if we even tell him at all. I mean, I'm fully prepared to keep this relationship underground for the next five years to avoid having that conversation."

"But he ditched you. Who gives a shit what he thinks? I mean, it would be different if he still wanted to be with you..." Lucy noticed Jackie's down-turned mouth and Hyde's worried expression. "Oh my God, are you telling me you think he's going to try to win you back?"

Jackie shrugged and felt like crawling into a deep hole. She knew this would come up at some point with Steven, but she was not ready to have 'the talk' right now.

Lucy could feel the room getting heavy and decided to make a quick exit. "Hey look, your secret is safe with me, okay?"

"You won't tell Eric?" Jackie asked for confirmation.

The artist shook her head and smiled. "No. I get it. Sometimes new love needs a chance to blossom in the dark," she smiled, grabbed her cardigan and left the basement as fast as her legs would carry her.

The door slammed shut, leaving the secret couple standing in the middle of the basement, drowning in an oppressive silence.

Jackie and Hyde were thinking the same thing, but neither one of them knew exactly how to say it.

"You were right. Eric _does _need a new girlfriend," Jackie joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Uncharacteristically, Hyde decided to speak up. "I can tell you're not really up talking, and well, you know my policy on discussing feelings-related crap, so why don't we just deal with it later?"

"Sounds good to me." Jackie nodded, but a look of consternation took over her face. "We only have four weeks left until they come back."

"I know." Hyde nodded somberly.

"Why is the Summer passing by so quickly?" She bit her thumb nail anxiously and avoided his eyes. If he could see them, he'd be able to read her like a book, and she was determined to maintain some sense of mystery about her.

"I don't know. Good things always fly by, Jackie. It's the bad shit that tends to drag," he waxed philosophically. "Not that you have a lot of experience with that."

Jackie laughed bitterly, allowing the empty ache she lived with echo throughout her body. "I know you probably won't believe me, but I've had a lot more things go by slowly than quickly in my life."

Even from the periphery, something about the look in Jackie's eyes made Hyde sit up and take note. She turned out to be almost none of the things he once would have sworn she was, yet he never stopped to ask himself why. No matter how she played it off, Jackie had a good heart and was empathetic and kind. Why wasn't she as shallow and as horrible as somebody like her should be? What made her not as awful as the other cheerleaders were?

He knew she was rich and popular, and had all of the advantages that most people aren't lucky enough to be blessed with – yet, for a girl as beautiful and smart as she was, she had a needling insecurity that seeped into almost every aspect of her life. Her dad was hardly ever around because of work and her mom was gorgeous and shallow and barely paid her any attention unless she caught Jackie walking out of the house wearing the wrong shoes, so he wondered who was raising her.

Jackie was almost never at her own house, which Hyde didn't even pick up on until recently. The only other person he knew who stayed away from their house as much as her was him, but his living situation was atrocious. He wondered if there was something going on that she wasn't telling him.

"Why don't we ever go to your house? I mean, we were knocking ourselves out to get some privacy, but you never even suggested going there." Hyde looked her straight in the eye. "You're not embarrassed to be seen with me are you?"

"What? No! I took you to prom and you've been to my house before. Why would you ask that?" Panic began to course through her veins and she dropped her eyes to the ground. "Um, I'm not feeling that well, Steven, so I think I'm just gonna go home, okay?"

She grabbed her purse and started walking toward the stairs but he cut her off. "Let me drive you."

Jackie shook her head and her body stiffened. "No. No thanks. I think the walk and the fresh air will do me some good."

"Then I'll walk you home," Hyde offered, now absolutely positive she was hiding something big.

Frustrated and embarrassed, Jackie held back her tears. "Can you just leave it alone, Steven? Please?"

Hyde nodded his head blindly and gathered her into his arms without another word. He smoothed down her chestnut curls with his hands and kissed the top of her head as she burrowed into his chest.

"Come on. I'll let you beat me at Chess." Hyde prodded her with his hand to accompany him to his room.

Jackie cleared her throat and then forced a smile, as she always did when times got tough. "It's sad you always pretend that you're throwing the game every time I beat you. Did you ever stop to think that maybe I'm just better than you at some things?" She gazed up into his eyes and felt herself getting lost in a sea of blue.

He leaned over and kissed her gently. "You're better at blowjobs than I am. See? I can be gracious."

She laughed and slapped his arm. "Jackass."

Hyde lifted her up onto his back and carried her into his room.

* * *

Lucy and Eric shared a vanilla malted milkshake at The Hub.

"I would not have pegged you as a vanilla girl," Eric mused. "Chocolate maybe. Strawberry definitely. But not vanilla."

Lucy laughed. "What's wrong with vanilla?"

"The question isn't 'what's wrong with vanilla?' Lucy, the question is 'what's right?'"

"So...what does that make me boring or something?" she asked, somewhat sincerely.

Eric frowned and was taken off guard. "No, of course not. Why would you say that?"

Lucy twirled the straw between her fingers. "I don't know. You and your friends are kind of wild and have done all sorts of crazy stuff like vandalizing and stealing and stuff. I've never been out with a bad boy before."

Eric stifled a laugh. "You think I'm a bad boy?" He was almost embarrassed to admit how immensely flattered he was by her estimation.

She concentrated on the milkshake as she spoke. "You go skinny-dipping with girls and have been hauled off to jail and even though you never do it when I'm around, I know you all are smoking up dope, like, a lot."

He looked at his girlfriend with amazement. She was actually squarer than he was, and he was suddenly aware of how awesome that felt. Donna had always been the cooler of the two of them, the one with more balls and a wider daring streak. He always felt like he was running and failing to keep up with her. She was exciting to him, and he realized now how exciting that must have been for Donna, because being Lucy's 'bad boy' made him feel like a fucking rockstar.

"I like you the way you are, Lucy," he said, hoping to make her feel more secure in a way he'd wished Donna had taken the time to do more often. "I mean, the fact that I'm some big sci-fi nerd should clue you into the idea that maybe I'm not quite the badass you imagine me to be. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am pretty fucking badass, just, you know, not _as _badass as you probably think."

Lucy smiled at him through her upper lashes, then leaned in and kissed his mouth. "Nerd? Badass? Whatever. I'm into the whole package." She scooted a little closer to him.

Eric had a playful expression on his face. "Speaking of _package_...we really should go skinny-dipping together while it's still warm."

Lucy rapped her fingers on the table rhythmically and stared him down, until he finally broke their game of chicken with a kiss. She leaned over and kissed him back, causing them both to forget all about the milkshake in front of them that was rapidly melting.

* * *

Two more weeks had passed and Jackie was starting to get extremely antsy. In her family, when something unpleasant was afoot, they just ignored the elephant in the room, fixed their lipstick and went out for tea. She couldn't ignore this elephant though, because in the next few weeks it could go rogue, wiping out everything in it's path.

"I'm warning you, this is not romantic, so don't start bitching about what a horrible lover I am," Hyde grumbled, as he turned on the music. "You said you wanted something loud to cover up all of those Jackie screams."

He held his finger up and dropped the needle. The music came on over the speakers. "_I like to dream, yes, yes. Right between the sound machine..."_

Jackie held back a shriek. "Steppenwolf? You expect me to make love to Steppenwolf?"

"It is called 'Magic Carpet Ride'." He followed his quip by dropping a few kisses on the inside of her thigh.

"Oh gross, tacky joke. Hey, I thought I broke up with you, Michael?" As soon as the joke left her lips she knew it was a no-go and brought her palms over her face.

Hyde pulled her hands down and leaned over her. "I'm not Kelso," he said a little too seriously, slightly disappointed in her for even suggesting it as a joke.

Her face softened. "I know that, baby. If you were Michael, I wouldn't be here."

His face tightened. "Yeah? Well you can tell him that yourself soon enough."

A smile spread across her face and she crawled onto his lap, then tickled his sideburns. "I will. I will tell him that...if you want me to."

"Whatever. Do you want to?" He threw the lead ball back into her court.

"Ugh! Can't you ever just answer a question? You must know by now how much I like you! I mean, when I was younger, I made a giant fool of myself chasing after you, and then you told me you hated me and wrote that mean haiku telling me to die and yet here I am, a year later still chasing you. Take the freaking hint, already!" Jackie flopped back onto the cot and pouted.

Hyde felt the butterflies in his stomach multiply and take flight throughout his body. He'd had chicks tell him they wanted him or that they thought he was sexy, but never this. Never a girl who liked him, warts and all – who made him laugh as hard as she made him come, and who stayed with him, despite his inability to say one meaningful thing back to her. He never thought anybody would ever 'get' him like this, much less the princess of Point Place, a girl known for her intolerance, cruel demeanor and sharp tongue. But she got him alright, she got him good.

A tiny smirk played upon his face as he crawled over to her. "Come on, doll" he whispered, as he kissed his way up her body, starting at her big toe and heading North. She writhed beneath him, though still stubbornly refusing to meet his gaze.

By the time Hyde reached her face, he leaned forward and kissed her soundly on the lips, finishing off by giving the lower one a little nip. He looked at her face, which she still refused to turn toward him, and cupped it in his hands. "I want you to stay."

Jackie's eyes shifted and made contact with his and she sighed. She knew what he meant. He didn't just want her to stay the night or stay with him for the Summer, he wanted her to stay with him. Period.

"I'd like that," she said with a hint of a smile, before pulling his face toward hers again, kissing him with all of the feeling and hunger she'd been afraid to show him before now.

Hyde slowly slipped one finger inside of her and nearly lost it. She was so wet and ready for him, he had no idea how he was going to control himself, especially not after she started making her usual noises.

He curled his finger inside of her until he could hear her breathing speed up, then added another one.

"Steven, that feels so good," she said between pants.

"It's going to get better," Hyde promised, then leaned over and withdrew his fingers, replacing them with a flat rough tongue against her center, which prompted a loud gasp.

"Please don't stop!" Jackie keened beneath his touch.

His hand landed across her mouth to muzzle her and she pulled the fingers he just used on her into her mouth. "Oh shit," he mumbled into her core with reverence, as he watched her suckle it. He hadn't realized before this summer how kinky she was. In hindsight, it all seemed kind of obvious, control freaks usually are. It was a nice surprise though, because she was just the right amount of kinky-the right amount for him, at least.

Hyde dove in with vigor, putting more effort in this than he'd ever put into anything ever before. This _had_ to be better than Kelso ever gave it to her, he _had _to make it amazing. He wanted to blow her fucking mind and then watch her beg him for seconds.

They'd had a hell of a lot of unbelievable sex this Summer, but time was running out, and he needed her to have the taste of him imprinted on her tongue. He wanted her to be addicted to it - to crave it like he craved the taste of her. He wanted to make her a junkie, so she wouldn't be able to even look at Kelso without thinking of him and this.

"Oh. My. God. This is sooo good. I had no idea..." Jackie groaned volubly, as he sped up his ministrations. She buried her fingers in his hair and grabbed tightly, giving it a little tug. In turn, he pinched her tight bundle of nerves, which sent her careening toward the edge.

Hyde slid his other hand under her ass and brought her as far into his mouth as he could get. Jackie cursed his name repeatedly and ripped the corners of the sheet from the mattress, as he worked her relentlessly.

"Oh God. I'm gonna come, baby," she rasped, as her breathing grew ragged and she came as hard and fast as a freight train, her toes and fingers curling in sweet agony as she rode out her high.

Hyde popped back up from between her legs with a huge grin on his face. "Call me Kelso now. I dare you."

She looked at him with half-lidded eyes and smiled. She wanted to speak, but she was having trouble forming words. She waved him closer and pulled him toward her lovingly for a kiss.

"That was ridiculous," she purred into his mouth. "I take back everything I said about Steppenwolf."

Hyde laughed hard. "You'd better," he said jokingly, before resting his head on her chest again and felt it rise and fall with each breath she took.

"Oh, I do. They are now my favorite band."I am a 'wolfie' - that's like a Dead Head..." Jackie continued on rambling in the wake of her mind-blowing orgasm. Her heartbeat provided soft percussion in his ear as she continued her musings.

Experiencing this slap-happy version of Jackie made Hyde ache even more for her. It was incredible to see how different she was behind closed doors compared to how she was in the real world. She was relaxed and playful and could poke fun at herself, but still the same. She was both a totally different person and the old Jackie rolled into one, which certainly was making his life a lot more interesting. "You're a wofie?" He chortled.

"That's right. You've converted me," she insisted, while scratching the top of his hair. "How many more songs are left on this side of the album?" she asked, in a not-so-innocent way as her hand found its way down to his erection.

* * *

**A/N – Okay—more sMut! You know I'm all talk with my promises of a cleaner story. Anyway, the next chapter will skip ahead to the day before K/D return home from California and then it will explore the fallout that ensues.**

**Thanks a million for all of your amazing comments. I will try to respond to them soon, and look forward to reading more from you in the review section! Please let me know how you liked this. Also—what are we thinking of Lucy?**

**A/N #2 - I am in the middle of rewriting this fic, since my style had evolved quite a bit since this was first posted. You can tell which chapters are rewritten, because they are named after songs. The ones just have chapter numbers are the originals. You'll see what I mean if you read it before I'm done fixing the fic. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6 - Stuck in the Middle with You

**I'm kind of wistful writing this fic, because it was when Hyde was just a damaged, misunderstood teen with a sweet heart underneath his gruff exterior. After the season that shall not be named (or season {h}eight, as I like to call it), I couldn't look at Hyde without thinking of him as a giant douchebag, so it's fun to reminisce and revisit a time before nurses, stripper marriages and ill-fated trips to Chicago (& romances with Fez-blech!) crushed poor Jackie's spirit.**

* * *

_Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you,_  
_And I'm wondering what it is I should do,_  
_It's so hard to keep this smile from my face,_  
_Losing control, yeah, I'm all over the place._

_- 'Stuck in the Middle with You' by Steeler's Wheels_

* * *

**CHAPTER 6**

Lucy and Eric were cuddled up on the couch watching TV. Jackie and Hyde, as usual, were relegated to sitting at opposite ends of the room from one another.

It was the last weekend of the summer before school was to start, and a nagging dread was threatening to burn a hole in the center of Jackie's gut. The holiday break was 12 weeks long, and she'd spent the past 11 of them with Steven's hand halfway up her blouse. All of this time alone together felt like a beautiful dream, and in a lot of ways it was a dream, since the reality of going to school and dealing with an angry ex-boyfriend was about to turn their lives into a nightmare.

Hyde popped up from his seat. "I left my wallet at the Fotohut. I'll be back in about five minutes."

Lucy stood up and walked up to him. "Can I get a ride over there with you? The movie theater's around the corner and I have work in less than an hour."

"That's cool." He shrugged and headed out the door.

After skipping over to her boyfriend, Lucy planted a chaste kiss on his lips. "I'll see you later?"

"I'm not sure what my parents have planned for me yet, but give me a call when you're done and I'll see if I can get away." Eric smiled, trying not to look nervous.

Totally oblivious to the undercurrent of fear going on all around her, Lucy kissed him again and ran up the stairs after Hyde.

Jackie looked at Eric knowingly.

"Stop it, devil," Eric grumbled. He knew exactly why she was giving him the eye, and for once in his life, he finally _got_ Hyde's desire to wear sunglasses all the time.

"You just lied to her," she informed him.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that. I just-I mean, what am I supposed to say? My ex-girlfriend is coming home today and she has no idea you exist? They're both going to be mad at me." He shook his head and cursed his circumstance, unable to wrap his brain around the predicament. Two women were interested in him. It was rare that he could get one girl to look his way, but two? And they were both hot!

"What are you going to do about Lucy?" Jackie asked, feeling slightly guilty about being the vehicle that brought the two of them together. It was good to see Eric happy this summer, but school was starting again and everybody knows you can't take your summer fling into the fall with you. It never works. She learned that by watching the movie 'Grease'.

"What do you mean?" Eric was genuinely confused by the cheerleader, whom - despite his best efforts - he was finding less and less annoying as the days passed. He would never admit it though, even under the threat of torture.

"I mean, you know...Donna is going to be back," Jackie whispered. She checked the doors to make sure nobody had crept inside without her knowledge.

"Donna and I broke up, like, a year ago," he reminded her. "I'm with Lucy now."

Jackie shifted in her seat. She felt justified about fixing Eric up at the time, but with Donna coming home any minute, the guilt hangover was starting to hit hard. How would she explain her part in all of this to her?

"But you love Donna," she asserted.

Eric's mouth settled into a line. "I'll always love Donna, but I can't be with somebody who thinks they're settling by being with me. At least I'm Lucy's first choice."

Jackie suddenly felt sick wondering if she had ruined her best friend's chances of ever being happy. She knew for a fact Donna loved Eric, but with Midge leaving, her friend had kind of lost her grip on rational thought. Not having a mom around will do that to a girl. Jackie knew that better than anybody. It was probably one reason why she kept taking Kelso back all those times he cheated.

The only boy advice her mom had ever given her was that men could brag all they wanted, but checking out a man's shoes was a foolproof way of telling how rich they were. That Pam was right about that, was just a cold comfort.

The irony was also not lost on Jackie that she was the architect of both of her friends' flings. She fixed up Donna with Casey, which broke the dork's heart, and now she would be responsible for breaking the amazon's heart in the exact same way. She decided that she had no choice but to fix this. They obviously couldn't be trusted to do it themselves.

"Look Eric, for what it's worth, I _know_ Donna loves you. You were never her second choice. She just got a little...confused after her mom left town and never really recovered from it."

"Yeah, I remember being a casualty of that," Eric huffed with a mixture of bitterness and longing, remembering how Donna used him for sex to get over her mother's abandonment. The high of thinking they were back together lasted about six hours before everything came crashing back down to Earth in a fiery mess.

"Think about how weird it was for her, with her parents swinging and dating other people while living in the same house. Sometimes when you have the awful experience of watching your parents do crazy shit, you just want to start everything fresh. Maybe she thought she could escape some of those bad memories by being with somebody new—somebody who didn't remind her of when Midge left?" She hoped in vain that Eric would understand her rationale. "You never had to deal with anything yucky like that Eric, so it's probably hard for you to see her perspective."

He placed his head in his hands. "Why are you doing this, Jackie? Why are you trying to confuse me?"

"Lucy is great, she is, but she's not...Donna..."

Eric nodded in agreement. "Being with Donna isn't always easy."

"Maybe, but the good things never are, right? You have to work for them. Okay, just ask yourself this—when you're at your happiest with Lucy, how does it compare to how you felt the first time that you and Donna kissed?" she asked. hoping that planting that comparison in his head would be enough to tip the scales in the redhead's favor.

"Look devil, I'll think about it, okay? Right now though, I'm gonna go get some air." With that, he stood up and left the couch.

* * *

The El Camino pulled into the driveway and parked. As Hyde emerged from the vehicle, he caught a glimpse of his best friend sitting glumly on the stoop and could immediately tell there was something going on with him.

"What's up?" he asked, as he flipped his keys over and back again against his hand.

"Donna is coming home today." Eric's head was so heavy, he could barely lift it from his hands.

"Yeah. Kelso too, right?" Hyde asked. He would never, in a million years, voice his worry, but he was hoping for some sort of miracle reprieve.

"Huh? Yeah, I mean, I guess so. It'll be good to have him around again to liven things up." Eric smiled, thinking about how Kelso's ineptitude always managed to provide a daily dose of good comedy fodder. He was looking forward to the diversion. He wanted things to go back to normal, even if he had no idea what that meant.

"Yeah, man..." Hyde agreed out loud while his insides were shouting _NO!_

"The thing is, I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to tell Donna about Lucy," Eric confided. "I mean, I know we haven't been together for a while, but it's still going to be awkward." He let his head drop back onto his hands with a sigh.

Hyde took a seat next to his friend. "Yeah, I can sympathize."

Eric nodded his head and then did a double take. "Wait, what?" He peered into the face of his bearded friend and looked for signs of head trauma.

Having realized his gaffe, Hyde tossed his keys up in the air nervously.

"What do you mean you _sympathize_? You haven't sympathized with anyone about anything like...ever!" Eric gesticulated wildly, his green eyes getting wider as his excitement grew.

"Hey man, whatever. I was hardly listening to what you were saying anyway. Guess it's a crime now to be nice to your buddies?" Hyde stood up and kicked a rock across the driveway.

Eric wondered what the hell had gotten into his friend. All summer Hyde had seemed kind of off to him, but he figured that since he was off too, he wasn't in any position to judge. But this—this was weird.

Hyde doesn't _do_ heart-to-hearts willingly, and he definitely doesn't _sympathize_ with people. There had to be some sort of outside influence affecting him.

Suddenly, it came to him. Eric stood up and pointed in accusation. "You're dating somebody!"

Hyde immediately and violently scoffed. "What? No!"

Eric smiled. "Yes you are. It all makes sense now. The unusual sympathy, the perky mood you've been in lately. Plus, you've stopped wearing concert t-shirts so much, you've been playing that Steppenwolf album excessively, and how about all those extra showers – you have a girlfriend," he decided and clapped his hands together.

"No I don't," he answered flatly. "I bang chicks, I don't have girlfriends."

"Yes, normally, except that now you do. You've even been nicer to Jackie lately. Jackie! Obviously who ever this chick is, she's making you pre-tty damn happy." Eric crowed, gloating smugly at his flawless detective work.

"Whatever, man," Hyde threw out nonchalantly, hoping to throw him off the scent.

His best friend laughed. "You forget that I live with you. You think I can't tell the difference in the ways you use the word _whatever_? The Chinese have four different meanings for the word 'ma'. I have no idea what any of them are, but I'm fluent in Hydese."

Hyde puffed up his chest and directed a stony-faced glare at his friend. "How would you translate this one, Forman? _What-ever._" He flipped his friend off and stormed off into the basement.

Shocked, Eric wagged his finger and called after him. "That type of language is uncalled for, mister!" Feeling indignant, Eric sat himself back down on the ledge and sulked while bracing himself for the inevitable.

* * *

Hyde stomped down the stairs angrily, startling Jackie from her magazine.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her brow furrowed with concern.

Without a word, he lifted her off of the couch and kissed her hard, nearly knocking the wind out of her. She dropped her magazine to the floor and snaked her arms around her lover's neck, then lifted her legs and locked them around his waist.

"I'm nervous too," she admitted with a half-smile.

"Shut it, Jackie."

She held his face, leaned forward and kissed him again, softly at first but full of passion.

"It's going to be okay, Steven." Jackie tried her hardest to sound cheerful.

"Whatever."

He was withdrawing - even more than usual, if it were possible - but she refused to let it happen. It was time to bring out the big guns.

Pouting out her bottom lip out, she widened her eyes and gazed at him like a forlorn puppy. He tried to avert his eyes but they eventually found their way back to her face, like two cerulean homing beacons.

"Crap," he mumbled, before his eyes began to soften and the corners of his mouth curled up ever so slightly.

She smiled back. "Things will work out, Puddin'. I promise."

He felt his pulse begin to race at the possibility that they might not, and pressed his lips against hers to stop the thought spiral.

Jackie buried her face into his neck and nuzzled him. "Say you believe me."

Hyde kissed her tenderly and carried her into his bedroom.

* * *

An hour later, Kelso's van trundled to a stop behind the El Camino. He was psyched to be home. Three months by the beach had been awesome, and his tan looked sexy, but it hadn't really done much for him in the pants arena. Most California girls may have looked like Playboy centerfolds to him, but they acted like he assumed the funny-looking British chicks on the cover of Horse and Hound would...frigid as hell. He internally kicked himself for giving up three months of having an all-access pass to ride the Jackiecoaster in exchange for a season ticket to the children's carousel.

Lack of nookie not withstanding, he had really missed his little princess. Nobody ever looked at him the way that she did, or was willing to play silly games with him at the mall. The girls in California just weren't as fun or as smart as she was, and it took three months of comparison shopping to make him realize that what he had left back in Wisconsin was the best thing out there.

He knew he'd fucked up pretty royally this time and she had to be beyond pissed. But like always, he was willing to grovel, beg and buy his way back into her heart. In fact, he was willing to do just about anything and everything to have her in his life again, because he was absolutely certain now that she was the one for him.

"I know this is a really un-me thing to ask, but do I look okay?" Donna turned to ask Kelso as she brushed her hair one last time.

"Your boobs look good in that shirt, if that's what you're asking," Kelso responded thoughtfully. "But your hair is a mess, like you slept on it weird." Off her offended look, he continued on. "Oh, but don't worry about your terrible hair, because your giant boobs totally distract the eye from it."

There. He had clarified it.

Feeling as though he'd done his good deed for the day, Kelso allowed himself to check out Donna's rack.

"I suppose I asked for that." Donna sighed, and flipped the sun visor back up into position in frustration.

"Hey." Kelso grabbed her arm before she had a chance to get out of the car. "Do you think Jackie will forgive me this time?"

Kelso sounded nervous, which evoked an odd pang of sympathy for him within Donna. "She always does Kelso. I don't see why this time should be any different."

* * *

Wrapped up in each other's arms and half asleep, Jackie and Hyde nearly jumped out of their skin when they heard the doors slam on what was sure to be Kelso's van.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Jackie leapt out of the cot and began frantically grabbing apparel off of the floor. She was faster here than she was in the Macy's shoe department on Black Friday.

"Where is my underwear, Steven? What did you do with it?" She slipped her feet into her espadrille sandals and tried to untangle her lilac sundress.

"I don't know?" Hyde lied, after catching a clear glimpse of them at the end of the bed. He took one of his feet and used it to shove the panties down the side of the bed where they wouldn't be found. He wasn't sure why he did this, and he didn't want to think about the exact reasons, but there were many.

"They're my purple ones that have 'Jacqueline' embroidered across the butt. Probably the worst pair of underwear I could lose right now in your room." Jackie was almost hysterical now, as she tore the place apart looking for them. "If anybody sees them they're gonna know they're mine and they're gonna know why they're here. It would be hard enough to explain a shirt, but panties are just...so obvious."

"Calm down, Jackie. What's the worst thing that could happen?" Hyde asked, hoping with every cell in his body her response would be something that wouldn't put him over the edge.

"I just...I don't want him to find out this way." Out of breath from her antics, she pulled her dress over her head and shimmied it down over her hips. After making her way over to Hyde, she placed her hands on either side of his face and looked deeply into his eyes, which appeared wide and childlike as they always did when he was worried about something. "Hey, I promised. Stop looking at me like that."

"How about I stop looking at you period?" Hyde locked eyes with Jackie in a hostile embrace, then immediately crumbled, tipping his head forward into her stomach. She ran her fingers through his hair and held him close to her torso.

Jackie's back stiffened when she heard laughing coming from just outside the basement door, which in turn made Hyde's back stiffen as well. She quickly planted a kiss on the top of her man's head and scurried off into the living room sans underwear.

* * *

Jackie leapt over the arm of the couch and grabbed her magazine off the floor where she had dropped it.

"Midget!" Donna screamed from the top of the stairs.

A forced look of shock erupted from the little one's face as she jumped to her feet. "Lumberjack!"

The girls ran to each other and Donna lifted Jackie off her feet and swung her around in a circle.

"Oh my God! You're so tan!" Jackie screamed.

"I told you I could tan!" Donna laughed.

"I'm truly sorry I doubted you. It looks great—so pretty. You almost can't see that you have all of those ugly freckles underneath," she said sincerely.

The taller girl rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I must really be homesick, because I didn't even find that too annoying."

"Oh, and don't worry about all the kids at school wondering where you were. I told them all you went away to California to have a baby," Jackie explained, proud of herself for coming up with such a great lie.

"What?!" Donna wasn't quite sure if her girlfriend was joking or not.

"Hey Big D. Welcome back!" Hyde called from the hallway near his room.

"Hyde!" Donna ran over and folded him into a tight hug, which he only feebly resisted this time, then gave him a friendly sock to the shoulder. "You barely called me, you dillhole!"

"Sorry, man. I'm a busy guy." He gave her a smirk and then shrugged.

"Busy growing a giant beard! Look at you, giving Wolfman Jack a run for his money," she teased, trying her best to embarrass him.

"Yeah yeah. If you're looking for the skinny guy, he isn't home."

"Eric? Why would I be looking for Eric?" Donna was trying her best to sound nonchalant.

"He does live here, Bigfoot," Jackie piped in.

"So does my good buddy Hyde, Wisconsin's annual ZZ Top lookalike contest winner!" Donna joked, trying to deflect attention away from her true motives. "Seriously, you should totally enter, it would be a landslide."

"I know you're a girl, but you're about one more beard comment away from being smacked." Hyde's face read anger, but his tone lacked the bite to back it up.

Donna threw her arm around her friend's shoulders. "Come on now, you wouldn't hit a girl."

"No, but I'd bribe her to." He pointed to Jackie.

"Oh you wouldn't have to bribe me Steven. I may be happy to see you Donna, but you are still on my shit list, you big goon—and don't ask me why, because I know you're smart enough to figure it out on your own."

Donna's enthusiasm for being home quickly deflated. She knew she'd have to pay the piper sometime, and she hadn't yet figured out what she wanted to say or how she could possibly make it up to her friend. Running off with Kelso was a shitty thing to do, like aiding and abetting a criminal who mugged your best friend.

She pulled Jackie down to the couch with her. "I am sorry, Jackie. I know you probably don't believe me, but I am. I was just so desperate to leave, and well, Kelso seemed really..."

"...desperate to leave too? Yeah, don't remind me..."

"If it makes you feel any better, Kelso's really sorry and knows he made a mistake." Donna forced a sheepish smile

"What? You mean he actually recognizes that running out on a woman you pledged to marry earlier in the day might have been a bit callous?" Jackie sounded as bitter as the day he'd left.

Hyde watched this exchange warily as he headed toward the shower to grab a beer.

Donna's mouth downturned and she genuinely felt bad for what her best friend must have gone through all alone. After all, there was nobody around to comfort her besides Eric, Hyde and Fez. Her ex wouldn't give enough of a shit to help, Hyde would only rub it in, and Fex would use it as an excuse to cop a feel. "Jackie, he really loves you."

Jackie let out an empty laugh then crossed her legs and re-arranged her skirt, suddenly remembering that she didn't have underwear on.

Hyde could feel his chest tighten up at Donna's words. He wasn't surprised Kelso still felt that way about her, especially now that he understood what all the hype was about. Nobody made a guy feel more special than Jackie did, and that's a tough thing to give up, which is why he had no intention of doing that.

"I'll always love Michael..." Jackie started to explain, before she caught Hyde's stare. "...but I'm not in love with Michael anymore." The words sounded natural coming out of her mouth, and she realized at that moment, it was because she really meant them.

Hyde had a great poker face that made it difficult for most people to judge whether he was happy or upset (angry was usually a lot more obvious), but over the last 11 weeks she had trained herself to spot the signs of each. She could tell that what she said made him pleased, because his jaw was tightly clenched until she admitted that she didn't love Michael anymore, and then it seemed to relax instantly and his eyes became lighter and more open.

"You don't love him?" Donna questioned with disbelief.

Jackie shook her head. "Not in that way. He's just not what I want anymore."

Donna narrowed her eyes with suspicion. "And this isn't part of some crazy ploy to make him work really hard to win you back?"

She shook her head slowly. "No. I don't want him back this time. I've honestly moved on."

Jackie stole a look at Hyde, but his expression was unreadable

Donna sank back into the couch. "Huh. Well, I mean, I feel a little sad for Kelso, but I'm really happy you finally came to your senses about him. You guys don't really bring out the best in each other."

Jackie laughed. "Understatement of the year."

"So...do you think you'll ever be able to forgive me?" Donna twisted her hands anxiously. "You're like, the only friend I have who has boobs."

Jackie smirked. "I suppose...if you're really nice to me and give me at least five real compliments a day for a month, like you mean it - and saying you like my hair doesn't count, because duh, that's kind of a given."

She rolled her eyes and smiled despite herself. "Yeah, okay, I'll do it. You're great at emotional blackmail. That's #1 for today."

Jackie nodded her approval. "Good. I'm glad we're friends again, because somebody's gotta be around to keep you away from those gross workmen's boot and bandanna head scarves. Unless you decide to be a lesbian that is...in which case, you're good to go," she said, slapping her friend on the arm encouragingly.

"I think I'm gonna stick with guys, if it's all the same to you." Donna patted Jackie on the knee.

"Speaking of guys...you should probably know that the dork is kind of, um, dating somebody." Jackie bit the bullet and broke the news. It was her fault they were together, so she felt it only right to keep her friend from getting blindsided with the information by Eric.

Donna felt the bottom drop out of her stomach and just stared ahead. "He's dating somebody? Like went on a date or actually dating?"

Jackie worried her bottom lip. "The second one. I thought you might want to be warned."

"Oh. Thanks." she exhaled, trying to stay calm. "I suppose that was to be expected. I mean, he is an attractive, single guy."

Jackie began to cough at the word attractive.

"Can it, you midget!" Donna growled.

She held her hands aloft. "Sorry. Just got something in my throat."

Donna kneaded her hands and looked at the floor. "Does he...is he happy?"

Jackie leaned in and hugged her formerly wayward friend's arm. "He's happy...but he was happier with you."

Donna smiled like she'd just won the lottery. "Okay." She stood up and brushed her jeans off. "I'm gonna go and see if Kelso needs any help with the bags, since there's a pretty good chance that by now he's locked himself in the van by mistake." She headed upstairs toward the kitchen.

Hyde slowly walked around the couch, sat at the other end and looked at Jackie. They stared at each other for a moment, neither wanting to comment on what just went down, but both knowing it meant something big. She couldn't talk to him straight out, and he sure as hell didn't want her to, so this was the most direct way of telling him how she felt without embarrassing them both. She wasn't positive yet, but she was pretty sure Steven caught her message loud and clear.

He made a show of placing his beer on the table, then turned to her and smirked. Jackie licked her lips and then pursed them like she did whenever she was about to say something important. "Steven, I-"

Before she could get another word out he was on top of her, pressing himself into her body, her hair all tangled up in his large hands as he kissed her senseless. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him tightly into her.

Hyde kissed her neck, all the way down to her breasts and then made his way back up, stopping just behind her ear.

"Did you mean it?" He mumbled in a low, almost imperceptible voice against her neck.

Jackie stroked the sides of his beard and smiled broadly. "Duh!" She laughed. "You_ know_ I did, you just want to hear me say it to your face."

He maintained his zen and kissed her once more. "I have _no_ idea what you're talking about, doll."

"None?" Jackie razzed. "Interesting tactic." She nibbled her way up the column of his neck.

The door at the top of the interior stairs swung open and Eric stepped through it and headed down the stairs.

Hyde reluctantly pulled himself off of Jackie and crossed his legs, not able to leave the couch without showing the world how turned on he was.

"Hey, have either of you seen Donna or Kelso?" Eric asked. "I just got home from visiting Lucy at the movie theater and his van is parked out front." He wasn't in a good place, appearing significantly twitchier than his normal resting phase.

Hyde was desperate to get rid of him. "No to Kelso, yes to Big D. She stopped by earlier. I think he's helping her bring her bags inside. Knowing Kelso, he probably got lost on his way out of her house."

"Oh. Well, maybe I'll head over there and say hi...do you think that's a good idea? Should I go over there or should I wait until she comes to me?" His arms flailed wildly as he mused aloud.

Hyde rolled his eyes. "I vote you grow a pair."

Eric turned to his friend with knitted brows. "I don't know what that means. Are you saying I should go over there?"

"I'm saying I don't care," he elaborated. "Anyway, it doesn't matter who goes where, eventually you're gonna have to see her."

The frazzled man gestured to Jackie. "He's saying I should go over there, right? I'm not misunderstanding him?"

"Eric, stop being such a spaz. Yes, go over there and work that geek magic of yours. Though I'd like to just point out that I've never seen you get nearly this agitated over Lucy." Jackie commented wordlessly with a sly grin.

"I'm going to ignore that last thing, devil, but thanks for the advice otherwise." Eric returned her smile and jogged up the stairs.

Jackie turned to Hyde with a serious face. "How fast can you make love to me while _still _making sure to get me off too?"

He paused to think about it for a moment. "Well, you're not wearing any underwear, so that shaves about 15 seconds off the clock. I'm going to say...seven minutes."

"Okay, then." She stood up and walked calmly toward his bedroom. He immediately stood up and followed closely behind.

**A/N – Okay—big moments in the next chapter. Buckle up.**

**Thanks for all of the great reviews, especially those of you who really got detailed. So helpful and really fun to read. I love the feedback! Please keep it coming.**


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter is sMut free. Sorry! Probably the cleanest chapter in the whole fic :(**

**.**

**CHAPTER 7**

.

Donna stepped out of the shower and headed toward her room. After 30 hours in a car with Kelso, she needed a shower, a circle and a nap – not necessarily in that order. She opened underwear drawer and looked through it.

.

Right after Eric broke up with her the first time, Jackie gave her a piece of advice that she thought was dumb at the time, but it turned out to one of her more brilliant suggestions – she told her to go out and buy the tiniest pair of underwear she could find and put it on. She said it would make her feel sexy, which would in turn give her confidence - and confidence drives a man crazy. Donna doubted her at the time, but she turned out to be totally right. Occasionally, there's a diamond amongst all of that cubic zirconia and rhinestone Jackie likes to toss around.

.

Trouble was, Donna didn't have much in the way of sexy undergarments right now. She had gone out and purchased a few after the whole 'granny panties' incident, just to prove to the guys (and herself) that she wasn't a total dude, but a couple of bleach stains courtesy of Bob's inadequate laundry skills and several Kelso panty raids later, she was back to Square One - which ironically was the brand of the giant cotton monstrosity she was holding in her hand at the moment.

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Unexpectedly, there was a knock at her door, and before she had a chance to turn around and answer, the door was ajar and Eric was walking into her bedroom.

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"Ohmigod!" Eric shouted as he turned around quickly to give her privacy. "I'm so sorry. You dad said you were up here in your room and I just assumed..."

.

Donna laughed. She had forgotten how adorably awkward Eric would be when he got flustered. "It's okay. He didn't know I was taking a shower."

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"I can come back," he offered with a hand in the air.

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"No, it's fine," Donna assured him. "Let me just get a robe," she said as she pulled a hunter green terrycloth one down from the hook on the outside of her closet door. "It's safe to come out now."

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She couldn't believe he was actually here, in her bedroom! This wasn't exactly how she'd intended to greet him, but he knows what she looks like, and it was just so great to see his face. She missed his face more than anything.

.

He turned around and put a hand to his head. "You know me, as slick and as suave as ever. I'm like Southern Wisconsin's own James Bond." He stopped for a moment and just stared at her. Three months had passed and she was still as beautiful as ever, more even. Life sucked.

.

She held in another laugh. "Wanna sit?" she asked as she gestured to her bed.

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He gave her a wary look, but then figured he'd sat on this bed so many times throughout his life that one more wouldn't really make a huge difference. "So. How was California?"

.

"Okay. I mean, it was nice to see my mom and the weather was good," she answered shallowly, not ready or willing to share with him how miserable she'd been or how much she'd yearned to see him.

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"Good. I'm glad you had, you know, some time to...you know what? This is crazy. I can't small talk with you," Eric admitted.

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"Yeah...well, if we're doing 'big talk' then can I go first?" the redhead asked as she sat beside him, playing with the tie on her robe nervously.

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"The floor is yours. So is the bed and the dresser, but you know...okay, I'll just shut up now," he rambled. Laying on the legendary Eric Forman charm wasn't really going to make this go any easier.

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She took a deep breath and stared at the tie on her robe, which Eric had put his hands on almost as much as she had. "I'm really sorry for running off without saying anything. I just felt...I don't know...humiliated?" she cringed as she said the word.

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He nodded. "Yeah. Me too."

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Donna's head jerked up and she finally looked him in the eyes. "Why were you humiliated? I was the one who put myself out there and got rejected."

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"You came to me hours after you got dumped by Casey and told me you wanted to be with me. I'm supposed to take that seriously? Was I supposed to be flattered to be your second choice?" he asked her, feeling suddenly more resentful than he had in months.

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"You weren't my second choice, Eric!," she insisted, her voice straining with emotion.

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Eric's jade-colored eyes got darker as his intensity grew. "Then why didn't _you_ break up with _him_ if I was your first choice? Why did you only come to me after he dumped you?"

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Donna didn't have a ready response for him. "I don't really have a good answer for that, but it doesn't mean what I'm saying isn't the truth."

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"Look, I'm not saying it isn't, it just doesn't feel like it is, okay?" he explained.

.

She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry. You have to know that I love you. I never loved Casey. God, he was such a huge dillhole. I guess it just took seeing who he really was for me to realize I wasn't happy with him."

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"I get that, okay, but it still doesn't make me feel any better. I mean, would Luke Skywalker settle for Han Solo's sloppy seconds?" he posited, realizing almost immediately how obnoxious that must have sounded. "That came out all wrong."

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Donna wiped a lone tear from her cheek and stood up. "That's okay. At least I know how you feel now." She walked to the door of her room and opened it.

.

"Donna...I didn't mean...shit. I don't always say the right things, and it seems like I'm constantly making everything worse every time I open my mouth, but you know I don't think of you like that. I don't. I'm really sorry," he whispered as he walked quickly through her door frame into the hallway.

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She shut the door behind him and leaned on it, sobbing quietly into her arm.

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* * *

.

"So...that could have gone a little better," Eric reported from his seat atop the deep freeze.

.

"Oh God. What did you do?" Jackie asked.

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"I may have referred to her as, um, Han Solo's sloppy seconds," he confessed as he unwrapped his popsicle.

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Hyde involuntarily laughed. "Oh man. Even I haven't said something that cold to a chick and I've pretty much made a career of being an asshole to women."

.

A worried look crossed Jackie's face as fear and uncertainty began to creep in. If a friend of hers dated a man who gleefully announced to the world he liked to treat women badly, she'd slap her like an old-school Italian widow for not hightailing it toward the exit at light speed. If there's one thing she's learned the hard way, it's when a guy says he doesn't want a serious relationship, he should always take him at his word. Maybe this was Hyde's way of telling her how he felt?

.

Hyde caught her mood shift and cursed himself for saying something so stupid in front of her. Probably not the brightest move to tell your chick that you treat girls like shit minutes before her old boyfriend rolls back into town with the goal of reclaiming her.

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"Thanks for the support," Eric grumbled.

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"Is that what we were supposed to be doing here?" Hyde joked as he searched for signs of life in Jackie's distant expression.

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"I feel like an asshole," Eric complained, full of self-loathing.

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"Yeah well, you kind of should. Although I guess if Donna's gonna have to be somebody's sloppy seconds, Han Solo would be the way to go," Jackie theorized while imagining herself in the arms of Harrison Ford. "Besides, getting a hot girl as sloppy seconds is equivalent to getting an uggo before anyone else has had her...better even. So, why are you complaining? You've already outdone yourself."

.

Forman rolled his eyes. "You have to help me make this better, Jackie," he informed her. "Today."

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She thought for a moment and then smiled. "No I don't."

.

"If you don't I'm going to tell her that you're the one who fixed me up with Lucy," Eric threatened desperately.

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She tried to think of a way out of it and then scowled. "Well played, dork. Catch up with me later and I'd try to figure out a way to have your foot surgically removed from your mouth. We could also rip your tongue out. It's really the only solution."

.

He fake laughed. "You have until 8pm to think of something or I'm removing the foot from my mouth myself and telling Donna what you did. Tick tock, satan."

.

A commotion occurred at the top of the outdoor steps as Kelso struggled with Fez to get inside.

.

The door swung open and the boys fumbled inside. "Yeah, my dad took away my slingshot, so I'm feeling it pretty bad too," Kelso complained to his foreign friend.

.

Jackie's stomach clenched as she watched her ex-boyfriend enter the basement and make a beeline straight for her.

.

"Look, Jackie, we've been avoiding each other. I think it's time we hashed this thing out," he started, using the most sympathetic voice he could conjure as he plopped down on the couch next to her.

.

Jackie's insides began to churn as she sat next to her ex for the first time in three months. "It's okay. I'm good," she told him. At that moment she realized that she actually _was_ good. If this had been six months ago, she would have been bawling her eyes out and scheming to get him back, but she didn't want him back. She wanted the guy sitting to his right.

.

"I can tell that you're devastated over losing me," he told her with manufactured concern. Kelso knew Jackie was just putting up a front to save face in front of the others. She couldn't take him back right away or else she'd seem weak. He respected that. She was a proud woman and it was one of the things that made him fall in love with her.

.

Hyde leaned back in his chair and made eye contact with his girl. He could feel his palms sweating. She seemed to be handling it well, but he knew deep down that things could change on a dime. Kelso may be an idiot, but he was a man-pretty idiot with charm to spare, and had some kind of bizarre, Svengali-like hold over the little brunette. She always went back to him no matter what he did. There had to be a reason why, even if it was completely invisible to all those who knew them best.

.

Jackie turned to Kelso and smirked. "You know what Michael? I'm fine. Really," she said and slapped his knee condescendingly, but of course the meaning behind her tone went right over his head.

.

Kelso could tell she was hurting because of how cold she was being to him. Normally after a breakup, she would get all emotional. He figured she must be super-pissed off this time if she'd gone past that point. "You sound brave, but inside you're a scrambled mess," he speculated aloud in that low, sexy voice that he knew she loved. A little empathy couldn't hurt his cause. Kelso figured it wouldn't be long now before she cracked and begged for him to come back to her.

.

Kelso was actually impressed she was able to hold it together so well in his presence. He wondered briefly if a sexual overture of some sort was in order to give her the hint that he wanted to be her boyfriend again. He figured she probably wouldn't try anything since he rejected her, and he'd have to be the one to let her know she could have the key to his pants again. "Just remember this, I'll always be there for you, in case you have any physical needs, alright?" Kelso made his grand gesture and then placed his arm around Jackie's shoulders and drew her near. He estimated that should be enough to do the trick.

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Watching Kelso put his dumb, moron arms around his chick made Hyde's blood start to boil. He leaned forward and frogged Kelso in the shoulder hard.

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"Ow. Damn Hyde! What was that for?" Kelso shrieked.

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"I just missed you, man," Hyde shrugged with a smile. He didn't really want to hurt the guy, but he needed him to keep his stupid hands to himself or else he was going to have to liberate him of them.

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"It was great catching up, but I've got to get to the mall for some last minute shopping before school," Jackie told him, as she gently extricated herself from her ex-boyfriend's grasp.

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"I'll come with you," Kelso volunteered. "I could give you a ride." He smiled and tilted his head to the side demurely, which usually made her melt like butter.

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"You know, I really do my best work alone Michael, but thanks for the offer," she said tightly and headed toward the door. As she was about to leave, Jackie shot Steven a pointed look and then walked out.

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Kelso shook his head and unwrapped a dum-dum pop. "Poor kid. Trying to replace me with shopping."

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Hyde pulled his keys out of his jeans pocket and walked toward the door.

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"Hey, where are you going Hyde? I just got here!" Kelso pouted.

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"I've got a shift, man. I'll catch you later," he informed everyone and shot off an apologetic look as he left the building.

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* * *

.

The minute the door shut behind them, he and Jackie were at it again, groping madly and kissing each other within an inch of their lives.

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Needing air, Hyde pulled back first. "I can't believe how you shut Kelso down in there. That was badass."

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She smiled seductively and slid her hand under the front of his shirt to feel his chest. "You're right! I am totally badass! I think I'm gonna use the word badass way more often!"

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"Don't get carried away," he advised, as he pressed her into the wall with his pelvis.

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"You need to get your hands off of me, Steven, or we're going to get caught," Jackie admonished. Though she wanted nothing more than to mount him in the stairwell and have her way with him, she wasn't exactly comfortable with Michael just on the other side of the door.

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"You say it like it's a bad thing. I mean, we're gonna get caught some day you know, so who cares?" he said breaking to her. He didn't want to hurt Kelso any more than she did, but her paranoia about it was starting to get on his nerves. At some point, he was going to find out about them, unless she wasn't planning on hanging around long enough for that to happen.

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"I guess..." Jackie broke away from Hyde and looked down. "I don't even really know how you feel about me or what your intentions are. I just would hate to hurt Michael for nothing."

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Now Hyde was pissed. "For nothing? No. We wouldn't want that, Jackie."

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He started up the stairs without her. She had one foot out of the door right now and he could feel it. He figured the moment that Bozo walked into the room she would be a lost cause, but he didn't see it happening this quickly. He'd been left enough times by people to see the warning signs and hers were blinking in bright neon. A veteran of this story, he wasn't planning on sticking around for a sequel.

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"Steven, wait!" she screamed as loudly as she could without the gang inside hearing her. "I can see you're mad at me for some reason, but I don't understand why."

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"We're cool," he said in a tone that indicated anything but. "I've gotta be somewhere," he announced, blowing her off as he jumped into the driver's side of the El Camino.

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"What just happened?" Jackie asked herself aloud as she literally pulled her own hair out of frustration.

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Hyde turned the key in the ignition and felt his motor kick in and begin to hum.

.

Dealing with Jackie reminded Hyde of those people who are dumb enough to illegally keep baby zoo animals like tigers and chimps as pets. For some reason, they believe that through their love, these wild animals can be turned into domesticated pets. Just because something is freaking adorable, does not mean that it's safe. These idiots feed and bathe their tigers, give them love, and generally forget that they are living with feral predators. Then one day, out of the blue, the tiger just loses its shit and mauls its human parent to death.

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It's not really the animal's fault, because that's what a tiger does and you have no business messing around with a tiger, much less letting your guard down around it. Any idiot who ever lulled themselves into a false sense of security around a wild tiger - or in his case, a 5'2" vixen with a mean shin kick, really made their own bed and needs to lie down in it and just shut the fuck up.

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Watching Hyde pull out of the driveway made Jackie feel like crying, but she couldn't do that there. People would ask too many questions. She turned to head back inside. No point in 'shopping at the mall' anymore, fake excuse or otherswise. Even the thought of actually shopping at the mall had lost it's appeal for the moment. Things must be worse than she thought.

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From across the driveway, Donna watched her little friend lean sadly against the front porch of the Forman house without moving. She wondered what put her in that state, though had a feeling it had to do with a tall himbo who had puppy dog eyes, a penchant for eye injuries and a demagnetized moral compass.

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* * *

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Jackie re-entered the basement only to find it had been completely vacated.

.

Figuring it to be as good a time as any with him gone, she walked down the corridor to Steven's room to look for her underwear again. She didn't mind too much not having them on when he was around to get turned on by it, but without him there to steal glances at her, she felt kind of like a slutbag.

.

Jackie climbed onto Steven's cot and searched around the sheets for her panties. Frustrated by her lack of success, she stood up on her knees to check one of the shelves and promptly heard a cracking sound beneath her, as a record broke under her weight and sent a sharp shard of vinyl directly into her knee.

.

"Shit!"

.

Alone in the basement searching for her friend, Donna's ears pricked up at the sound of Jackie's yelp. "What are you doing in there, Jackie?" she shouted as she made her way back to Steven's room.

.

Jackie looked up at her pal with wide eyes and gave her a tight grin as she wiped the involuntarily tears that streamed out of her eyes from the pain. "Nothing. Um...I told Steven I'd help him find something he lost."

.

The skeptic furrowed her brow with suspicion. "What?"

.

Jackie's eyes darted around the room and she bit her lip. "His...'Physical Graffiti' t-shirt."

.

A laugh escaped Donna's lips that sounded more like a hiccup. "Why would _you_ be helping _him_ find anything, much less a Zeppelin shirt?"

.

Jackie decided the best defense would be a good offense. "Well...he lost a t-shirt, and I am kind of an expert on clothing. Why are _you_ in here?"

.

Ignoring her question, Donna continued her inquisition. "I don't buy it. Come on, Jackie. You've never in your life helped somebody just because they asked, especially not Hyde."

.

She had forgotten how much smarter and tenacious Donna was compared to the rest of the gang. It had been too easy for her to lie to everybody all summer, because Fez took almost everything she said at face value and Eric didn't care enough about her to ask followup questions. The lumberjack knew better than to take Jackie at her word. She'd have to think of a reason that was more in keeping with her character. "He...blackmailed me into helping him."

.

A hand now stroking her chin, Donna nodded. "Okay, that sounds more plausible. What does he have on you?"

.

Jackie fisted her hand on her hip. "Now why would I give you dirt to hold over my head too?"

.

Donna figured the midget had a pretty good point. "Well, do you need help?"

.

"It's okay, thanks. By not finding the shirt I'm really just doing him a favor," she commented.

.

The taller woman's brows knit with concern as she noticed a trickle of blood coming from her friend's knee. "Jackie, take a seat and let me look at what you did to yourself."

.

Jackie complied and sat herself down on the bed, stopping only to pull the broken record out from under her.

.

"Hyde's gonna kill you," Donna snickered as she grabbed one of the burnout's wash cloths and held it to Jackie's cut to stop her bleeding.

.

"Probably," Jackie whispered sadly as she gazed at the broken record in her hands.

.

"What's the damage?" Donna asked and reached for the album. "Steppenwolf? Well, in my opinion, breaking this was your good deed for the day," she said cheerfully. "Let that count as your 2nd compliment of the day. _Please_."

.

Jackie shrugged her acceptance and then smiled to herself. "Oh, I don't know. I kind of like Steppenwolf. It's grown on me."

.

"Well, Eric always did say you were a 'Monster'," Donna quipped as she blew some cold air on the cut to dry it.

.

Jackie snorted at the cheesy joke. "Thanks, Donna."

.

Something about having her best friend home was bringing out all of the complicated feelings that she'd kept hidden for the last three months. She had nobody to confide in about this, and now that the one person she could talk to was back, she felt paralyzed.

.

"This looks kind of bad Jackie, you might want to get it checked out by a doctor," Donna said, wincing as she gingerly touched it.

.

Watching her friend carefully as she wrapped her cut, Donna noticed a tinge of melancholy starting to cloud her mood. "I saw you outside earlier," she mentioned casually, hoping it would prompt a willing response.

.

"What did you see?" Jackie asked hesitantly.

.

"Just you out there alone, looking sad. Why?" she wondered, getting an inkling that something more might be afoot.

.

The smaller girl's eyes started to water and the deluge wasn't far behind.

.

Donna wrapped her long arms around Jackie and held her while she cried. "He still loves you Jackie, don't cry. He told me that he knows now that you're the one for him."

.

Jackie looked up at her friend puzzled. "What?" she asked, tear-stained and confused.

.

"You're crying about Kelso, right?" Donna questioned, now finding herself slightly confused.

.

The dark beauty looked down and shook her head, unable to meet her friend's eyes.

.

"Then who-?" It was at that moment that Donna noticed a small strip of purple fabric tucked behind Hyde's pillow. She pulled the item out from under it, read the name embroidered on the back and her mouth dropped open in shock. "Oh crap."

.

Jackie took the panties from Donna's hands, stood up and put them back on, then immediately sat down again as if nothing happened.

.

"What the hell, Jackie? Is this a prank?" she asked, desperate for some kind of logical explanation.

.

"No. It's for real," she confessed.

.

Donna's large hands ran through her silky red mane, trying to scratch out the images floating around in her mind. "How long has this been going on?" she asked and sat down next to her.

.

"11 weeks," Jackie confessed, prompting a new round of jaw-dropping and expletives.

.

"Holy shit. Who else knows about this?" Donna wondered.

.

"Just you," Jackie admitted, then remembered getting busted a while ago with her hand down Hyde's jeans. "Well...and Eric's girlfriend Lucy, but she kind of walked in on us."

.

Donna stood up in disbelief. "You're telling me that you and..._Hyde_ have been fooling around for the past three months and you—the girl who was voted 'biggest gossip' last year for the third year in a row in an unprecedented landslide—hasn't breathed a word of it until now?"

.

The brunette nodded shyly.

.

"Oh my God, you really like him!" Donna shouted at her friend.

.

Fresh tears erupted from Jackie's eyes and she blotted them with Hyde's towel. "I think I really screwed things up with him tonight though."

.

"How?" she asked.

.

She shrugged her narrow shoulders and took a deep breath. "I don't know. Once minute we were in each others arms, and the next, he was stomping off into the night. I don't even know where he went."

.

"Well that's the first thing you've said that sounds like anything Hyde would do. I can't believe I'm even asking this, but are things between the two of you serious? I mean, are you sleeping together?" Donna wondered, not sure whether the concept of the two of them coupling up seemed hot or disturbing to her.

.

"I don't know what we are. I guess that's probably why he took off, maybe he changed his mind. As for sleeping with him, you just found my undies under his pillow Donna, I'm pretty sure you can do the math," she admitted with a sigh, all of a sudden feeling strange being in his bedroom without him there. "I just hope I didn't ruin everything."

.

Donna had never seen Jackie this distraught. She had seen her angry, bitter, sad, and a dozen other unpleasant emotions that Kelso had provoked, but nothing like the way she appeared now. This was something else entirely, her friend seemed almost broken. "You're not...Jackie, are you in love with Hyde?" she asked bluntly.

.

"I...I don't..." Jackie's face crinkled and she buried it in her hands.

.

"Come on. Let's get out of this room and get some ice cream, okay?" Donna offered, remembering how much Jackie liked to eat when she was depressed.

.

"Can we get beef jerky instead?" she pleaded, always having found the act of ripping leathery meat with her teeth the best way to safely get out her aggression.

.

"No. I can't go down that road again with you. It was like watching a National Geographic special. You're going to eat ice cream or chocolate like a normal person," Donna decreed.

.

**A/N – ****PLEASE KEEP THOSE REVIEWS COMING! Thanks for reading xox**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

.

Two hours had passed and Jackie and Donna were still sitting on the floor of the Pinciotti living room sharing a carton of mint chip ice cream.

.

"You're right. This is better than jerky," Jackie declared happily as she dug her spoon in. "But jerky is less fattening."

.

"That doesn't affect my low opinion of it," Donna said, rolling her eyes with mirth.

.

Though her day had gone pretty poorly up until this point, she was finally starting to feel kind of normal again. She was in her own house, she and Eric were having a tiff, Jackie was bawling her eyes out over some guy—all normal. Except that none of this felt normal. Her house felt strange without her mom there to take her shopping for school clothes, the spat she and Eric were having might end up being their last, and the guy Jackie was crying over wasn't Kelso, but...Hyde.

.

"Can I ask you a question about Hyde?" Donna asked carefully, wondering exactly how to phrase her query best.

.

Jackie shrugged.

.

"Is he...well, I've always wondered what he would be like, you know...well, he's been with so many women, so I assume he's had a lot of practice," she rambled.

.

Jackie smiled her bemusement. "Are you asking me if Steven is good in bed? Would I be this upset if he were lousy?"

.

"I remember you crying quite a bit over the 'Apollo Rocket of Love' and everybody in Point Place knows he a minute man." Donna reminded her.

.

"True, but that's before I had anything to compare him to. Michael may not exactly be known for taking his time, but I will say that while it lasts it's pretty decent. Nothing approaching Steven though, obviously," Jackie sighed, recalling their last tryst. "We once did it four times in one afternoon. He really knows how to go dow-"

.

"Ew! Stop! Too much information," Donna recoiled, leaping off the sofa.

.

Jackie narrowed her eyes. "Well, you asked!"

.

"I know. I should have learned my lesson that one time I asked my dad to show me how sausage was made. Some things you cannot unlearn," Donna shivered with disgust.

.

"Well, then maybe you'd feel more comfortable talking about what happened earlier with you and Eric," she offered.

.

Donna's eyes widened. "You're actually asking me to discuss something that has nothing to do with you?"

.

"I've changed, Donna! Steven's love has made me a new woman!" Jackie swore with conviction. "We even talk about things in the news, like, politics and stuff."

.

The life-long feminist raised an eyebrow. "_You_ talk about politics?"

.

"Well, Steven's not going to talk about shopping and we have to chat about something afterward in bed. Besides, I kind of find it interesting. Nobody ever bothered talking to me about that kind of stuff, so how was I supposed to know if I'd like it or not?" Jackie asked before wrenching the quart of ice cream out of her friend's grasp.

.

"Jackie, I try to talk about that kind of stuff with you all the time!" Donna miffed.

.

Jackie swallowed another spoonful of ice cream. "Maybe you just did it in a really boring way? You make a lot of cool things seem boring, you know - like those shoes for example. If you'd worn them with something else I probably wouldn't mind looking at them – but with that outfit...not so much. Besides, after the amazing things he does to me in bed, Steven can talk about anything he wants and I am all ears," she wiggled with delight as she dug her spoon into the mint chip again.

.

"Disgusting. Seriously, you two are unnatural," Donna made a face.

.

"Whatever, you're just jealous of our epic sexual chemistry. Anyway, tell me what happened with Eric. He already gave me his side of the encounter," she said.

.

Donna rolled her eyes. "Which side? The one where he referred to me as 'sloppy seconds'?"

.

Jackie laughed. "Yeah that. What a dumbass. He basically begged me to help him get out of the dog house with you."

.

She processed this information and the corners of her mouth began to pick up. "Huh. It almost sounds like he still cares."

.

"Duh! I mean, he even resorted to blackmailing me into helping him. That's how badly he wants to fix things with you," Jackie divulged.

.

"What is he blackmailing you with?" Donna wondered.

.

"Nothing," Jackie snapped, suddenly becoming tight-lipped as her eyes shifted.

.

"You just said he was," Donna insisted.

.

"No I didn't!" the smaller girl denied in a high-pitched voice.

.

"Yeah, you did!" Donna asserted as she leaned forward and got into her friend's face. "What did you do?"

.

Jackie deflated. "Ugh. Fine. You're going to find out anyway. I'm the one who fixed Lucy up with Eric," she confessed.

.

Furious, Donna stood up and looked down on the other girl. "What the hell, Jackie?!"

.

Jackie scrambled to her feet. "He just looked so sad, and I really wanted to help him."

.

Clearly in disbelief, Donna stared blankly at her.

.

"Okay, fine. He was hanging around moping all of the time and it was super annoying, plus Steven and I couldn't get more than 30 minutes alone because he kept coming down to the basement to sulk," she said, relieving her conscience. "30 minutes is barely enough time for foreplay!"

.

"You are a horny little bitch," Donna snapped angrily.

.

"Okay. But look, that other stuff I said was kind of true. Eric did look really sad, and he stopped with the personal hygiene and Lucy really did bring him out of his funk," she explained.

.

"I'll just bet she did," she grumbled. "What's she like anyway?"

.

"She kind of like an artsy Snow White - and so square she could be a cube," Jackie elaborated. "Oh, and she has fat, disgusting cankles," she added quickly, pulling a face.

.

"Is that last part true?" Donna wondered hopefully as she gazed down at her own shapely legs.

.

Jackie touched her arm. "Not really, but I'll bet I could get a rumor going that she's really a man, if you want."

.

Donna laughed and threw her arm around her friend. "I appreciate the thought, but no. I still want him to be happy, even if it isn't with me. I still really wish it were with me, though."

.

"If you really want him back, then you have to play to your strengths. She's totally blah and I'm pretty sure they haven't done it yet. You are two up on her already!" Jackie offered cheerfully. "And you have a past together-that's worth remembering...or getting him to remember, rather," she smirked.

.

"Thanks Jackie. I really did miss you when I was gone," Donna admitted.

.

"Of course you did." Already feeling much better, Jackie smiled and picked up the ice cream again.

.

* * *

.

Eric, Hyde and Fez were busy playing poker by the deep freeze.

.

Lucy was sitting on the couch next to Kelso, who was leering at her in an uncomfortable way.

.

"So, you're Jackie's ex-boyfriend," she said, for lack of anything else to talk about with him.

.

"For now," Kelso informed her with swagger.

.

Hyde picked up on this comment and sneered to himself.

.

She stifled a laugh. "Wait—you really think she'll take you back after everything you've done?"

.

Utter confusion was written across his beautiful face. "Uh, hello? Look at me." he gestured to his best features.

.

"Looks aren't everything, Kelso," Lucy said, hoping to open his mind. "Loyalty is important too."

.

He looked at her pensively for a moment and then laughed, like he was finally getting the joke. "Oh, I was worried you were serious there for a moment but then I remembered, you know, usually only uggos say stuff like that."

.

She made eye contact with Eric who held his hands up to indicate that Kelso's stupidity was not his fault.

.

"But Kelso, even though you're good-looking, did you ever think that Jackie may have moved on with another guy? I mean, you were gone for three months," she stressed. "And you ditched her without a word."

.

"But Jackie and I are meant to be together, she knows that," he informed her confidently.

.

Hyde's grip on his playing cards tightened as he found himself distracted by the side conversation.

.

"Are you sure about that?" Lucy prodded.

.

Kelso began to doubt the veracity of his statement and started pouting. "Of course I'm sure!" He stood up and started walking toward the card game. "Forman!" he whined. "Your girlfriend really knows how to bring a room down," he said, kicking his foot into the ground like a petulant school boy.

.

"What happened?" Fez asked.

.

"She told me that Jackie's probably with some other guy now. I mean, she's wrong, isn't she? Jackie wouldn't do that to me?" he wondered, his paranoia beginning to increase. "I mean, nobody in Point Place is as hot as I am, and we all know how Jackie hates ugly people."

.

"This is true. Jackie has said many times that she does not like fatties, guys with body hair in the wrong place or people with unusual facial features," Fez parroted, then sighed. "And foreigners," he added sadly.

.

"I'm out," Hyde said sharply as he slammed his cards down on the deep freeze and headed toward his room.

.

"Going to go call your girlfriend, Hyde?" Eric asked before following it up with obnoxious kissing sounds.

.

"Get bent!" he growled as he entered his room.

.

* * *

.

Hyde closed the door to his room behind him and leaned against it. Tweedledum and Tweedledumber may be morons, but they did have a point. Jackie was superficial and liked pretty things and pretty people. He owned nothing pretty, and always thought of himself more as the ruggedly handsome type than man-pretty, so he was basically zero for two.

.

It didn't matter anyway, since he was convinced it would only be a short period of time until she left him. In fact, he's fairly certain that he may have even pushed her out the door earlier in the day, so it was pointless to dwell on what he never truly had.

.

He grabbed his stash and sat on the edge of his bed. Despite his legendary willpower, he felt his left hand sliding toward his pillow, almost of it's own volition. It slipped under the rough cotton pillowcase and groped fruitlessly for something that was no longer there.

.

Hyde yanked the pillow off of the bed and began to frantically search for Jackie's panties. He was positive he stowed them under there, and if they were missing it meant somebody else took them- and even worse, that somebody else knew about the affair. Jackie would kill him.

.

He pulled the sheets off the bed and looked under them but found nothing, so he continued to ransack his own room. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a broken record stuffed in the garbage can. Hyde pulled out the pieces, saw which record it was, and his heart sank. Jackie must have been in here and taken her underwear, then smashed this record in anger—or maybe as a message to him that their relationship (or whatever it was) was over now. He gazed sadly at the record until he caught sight of a dried streak of blood smudged on the edge, then saw the bloody rag in the trash can beneath it. The washcloth was soaked through, so it couldn't have been a small cut.

.

Thoughts of Jackie possibly injured ran through his head and made him feel weak in the knees. Hyde raged out of his room into the basement, just in time for Donna and Jackie to walk in through the outdoor entrance.

.

* * *

.

Jackie immediately caught Hyde's stare and then looked away. His eyes fell to her knee, where he noticed a thick, blood-soaked bandage wrapped around her leg. She obviously didn't break the record on purpose. She wasn't sending a message. It was merely an accident. Hyde exhaled audibly and then looked at the ceiling.

.

Donna's eyes fell on a cute girl with light-brown hair, pulled haphazardly into a messy bun. "Hi, I'm Donna. You must be Lucy," she smiled as she crossed the room and offered up her hand to the woman on the couch. There was no other option _but _to be friendly, even though everything in her body wanted to tear this chick's hair out by the roots. "I've heard a lot about you from Jackie," she told her, while thinking to herself that Lucy may not have appreciated all of the stuff Jackie shared about her.

.

Lucy's face fell from shock, but then she quickly recovered and took her rival's hand. "Hi. It's nice to finally meet you," she returned the smile sweetly.

.

The basement was as silent as a church, as all eyes were on the two women.

.

Donna looked around her and laughed. "Alright. Show's over people. At ease," she ordered with a smirk.

.

Eric met her gaze and nodded his appreciation for kindly welcoming his new girlfriend.

.

"You know guys. This is the first time in months that our circle is complete. I think we should celebrate the best way we know how," Donna suggested, then turned to her best friend, who gave her a secret thumbs up.

.

"Aww Yeah!" Kelso yelped his approval. "Let's get our toke on!"

.

Eric looked uncomfortable. "You know, you guys should go ahead without me. Lucy and I have some stuff to do and we-"

.

"Eric, it's fine. I've been wondering what you all do when you lock yourselves down here. Do you mind if I observe?" Lucy asked the group.

.

Hyde looked as though he had an unpleasant taste in his mouth. "That's not really how we do things around here, Lucy."

.

"Hyde..." Eric warned his friend.

.

"What can I say, man? The circle is sacred. I'm happy to have her join, but if she's gonna join, she's gonna really have to join," he posited inflexibly.

.

"That's bullshit, man," the lanky man snapped.

.

"Them's the rules," Hyde shrugged smugly.

.

Forman narrowed his eyes. "Says who?" he challenged.

.

"Says the guy with the stash," Hyde reminded him.

.

Knowing he'd been bested, Eric relented. "Fine. We'll just go then."

.

Lucy was mortified. She didn't want her boyfriend's friends to think she was uncool. "Eric, you should stay with your friends," she insisted. "I have a drawing I'm finishing up anyway and could use the quiet time," she lied handily.

.

"But Lucy..." he called her, feeling quite bad about the way his friend treated her.

.

"No, really! Don't be silly, Eric. Hang out with your gang and call me in the morning," she suggested before throwing her arms around her boyfriend and giving him a soft kiss. "Bye guys."

.

Donna flinched as she watched this go down. She knew she had been way more explicit in public with Casey, and now felt extremely guilty over how it must've felt for Eric to see her like that with another guy.

.

From across the room she noticed Hyde pull his glasses down the bridge of his nose and wink at her as Lucy ascended the basement stairs. She smiled and shook her head in amazement. It felt good to know that people had her back.

.

The crew assumed their positions and Hyde went into his room to get the stash. When he returned, he noticed Jackie had taken her place beside him with Kelso moving in on her from the other side. He took off his glasses and forced himself to look directly into her eyes with contrition, hoping she was in a forgiving mood.

.

"What did you do to your knee," Hyde asked in a low whisper.

.

"I slipped and fell," Jackie answered quietly.

.

"Where?" he pushed.

.

"You know where," she responded curtly.

.

"I'm sorry you got hurt..." he told her, hoping she'd catch the double meaning in what he said.

.

A hint of a smile formed on her lips and she nodded her head once.

.

Hyde popped his glasses back on and clapped his hands together. "Let's get this circle started!"

.

Donna observed this exchange between her friends unnoticed. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed it—but there it was in technicolor. There was no doubt that there was something between Jackie and Hyde, a weird connection she had never noticed before today. The strangest part, is that she realized that it actually wasn't a new connection, it was just something she had never picked up on before.

.

She always assumed that the tension between her friends was related to their hatred of one another, but she misread it entirely. It was unrequited lust. But even now, having requited their lust many times over, she could still feel the heat radiating off of them from the other side of the circle.

.

"Would you mind scooting down a few inches?" Eric asked, interrupting her thoughts.

.

"Hmm? Oh. Of course. I'm actually kind of surprised you even want to sit near me," Donna remarked.

.

His eyebrows bunched up with concern. "Why would you say that?"

.

"Well, I did kind of run your girlfriend off," she looked up apologetically.

.

"Oh, that wasn't your fault. That was just Hyde being Hyde. He's been totally wacko this summer. I personally think he has a secret girlfriend, but when I brought it up he went all mental on me like Tusken Raider," Eric confided.

.

Donna started coughing. "Hyde dates lots of girls. What makes you think he's seeing somebody special?" She couldn't believe how observant yet oblivious Eric could manage to be at the same time.

.

He shrugged. "Just some random things. Why? Did he say something to you? Come on. You can tell papa. You know you want to," he goaded her.

.

She threw her head back and laughed. "Well _papa_, if I knew anything, I would never tell."

.

"Not even me?" Eric stuck his lip out like Jackie and fake pouted.

.

Donna took her index finger and slowly pushed his bottom lip back in. "Not even you."

.

The energy suddenly changed between the two of them and they both had to look away.

.

"Who wants to play a game?" Hyde asked the masses.

.

Fez and Kelso faced each other with serious looks on their faces. Kelso took a hit off the joint but did not exhale, then passed it to Fez, who did the same. They continued toking and passing but never exhaling their smoke in a stoned version of the game chicken.

.

Both boys got very intense and Michael started to turn red in the face. Finally, he cracked and let out all of his smoke in one long, loud, violent-sounding cough.

.

Everyone was really concerned and looked on with apprehension as he tried to regain his breath. Once he did, he looked up at the group and smiled widely with half-closed eyes. "Did I win?"

.

Jackie started laughing hysterically at him. "Yeah Michael. You won. You're _amazing _at this!" she giggled, gasping for air. "I think it would only be fair for you to give Fez a chance to play you again," she said, egging him on. She figured it would be amusing to see just how high her ex could get in a short period of time.

.

"Yes, let's play again!" Fez clapped his hands excitedly, seemingly unaffected by the marijuana.

.

"You should!" Donna laughed, wondering how long it would take before one of them passed out.

.

Kelso lifted his hand to her cheek and caressed it. "You're so pretty, Jackie. Nobody in the whole world is as pretty as you are," he told her earnestly as his head swam in a green fog. "For a girl, I mean. Because, obviously..." he gestured to his own face.

.

Hyde rolled his eyes, sure that she couldn't possibly be taking any of this seriously.

.

She blushed and turned away from Kelso. "You think every girl is pretty Michael. That's your problem."

.

"No way," Kelso said excitably. "You're the prettiest. If there was like, a president of being pretty, that would totally be your job," he assured her, then changed his mind. "Actually, I'd be the president, but you would definitely be the VP."

.

"That would be a great fucking job," Donna mused. "I would love to be the president of pretty!"

.

"President is nothing. You could totally swing being the intergalactic high priestess of pretty," Eric tried to say with a straight face but couldn't. "Your highness," he bowed his head to her with flourish.

.

"If anybody's your _high_ness, it's Hyde," Donna gestured to her baked friend and nodded her head.

.

Hyde could feel Jackie's body shake against his arm as she laughed. He enjoyed the closeness, since the last time they'd had physical contact was in the stairwell where he left her confused and nearly crying. They'd barely been apart, but he already missed her touch and her smell, and the way she'd slightly part her lips and get really slow-eyed the moment before he entered her.

.

He leaned in a bit to increase their contact, and she immediately she scooted away from him an inch to prevent it. Unwilling to be thwarted, he followed her over an inch and tried to covertly hold her hand.

.

"I have to pee," Jackie announced as she painfully stood up from the floor, trying hard not to aggravate her knee.

.

"Yeah, we don't care. Stop announcing gross things," Eric carped.

.

"Speak for yourself, you bastard," Fez snapped, unexpectedly. "Some of us find it erotic to hear about when Jackie plans to take her pants down. Please continue, Jackie," he smiled and waved his hand for her to keep speaking.

.

"_Now _will you stop announcing when you have to pee?" Eric asked a now repulsed Jackie.

.

"You win, Eric," she agreed and then gingerly stepped over her friends to get to the staircase.

.

Hyde watched her leave and wondered if she was hinting for him to follow. If he were following the formula they used all summer, he'd count slowly to 60 and then make up some dumb excuse to leave in order to go look for her.

.

"Mrs. Forman baked cookies and I'm gonna go get some. Anybody want?" he offered them.

.

"He said baked," Kelso laughed high and giggly like a girl.

.

Fez joined him immediately.

.

"Bring some of those bad boys down here for me, Hyde," Donna demanded.

.

He held his hand up and climbed over everybody to get to the stairs.

.

* * *

.

When he got to the first floor, he couldn't see Jackie anywhere. He did find the cookies, however, and immediately took an oatmeal one and started snacking while he waited.

.

Jackie limped slowly down from the upstairs bathroom and pushed the hinged door to enter the kitchen.

.

Hyde looked up at her and pushed the plate of cookies in her direction. "Want one?"

.

She didn't really, especially after nearly consuming her weight in mint chocolate chip ice cream earlier, but she could tell that this was his way of asking her to sit and talk. The small girl slowly shuffled her feet across the room and stood next to him. "What type is that one?" she asked as she pointed to a pale one with cinnamon sugar on top.

.

"Snickerdoodle," he answered. She leaned over and lifted it off the plate.

.

"I didn't realize that you actually had to pee. I thought..." he didn't finish his thought, figuring she could connect the dots.

.

"I actually had to go," she shrugged and took a small bite of the cookie.

.

"Is your knee okay?" he asked, wishing she'd share the details of how it happened.

.

"Honestly? It hurt like hell until the circle. That helped. It looks pretty awful though. I'm probably going to have an ugly scar," she pouted.

.

He took a deep breath, knowing this was his cue to say something reassuring to her. Normally, he would bypass this responsibility altogether, but if he hadn't overreacted like he did, she probably wouldn't have been in his room them and wouldn't have gotten hurt. "Nothing on you is ugly Jackie. I'm sure even your scar will be hot."

.

It may have been clunky, but his compliment seemed to be buttering her up well.

.

"You know what Steven, you're right. It probably will be a hot scar," she said, then smiled and took a seat at the kitchen table. "I can make anything look good."

.

"Can I see it? You could use a new bandage," Hyde observed.

.

Jackie looked down at her knee and flinched. There was blood seeping through the gauze and it was entirely soaked through.

.

Hyde grabbed some fresh gauze from the first aid kit in the cabinet and knelt down in front of her. He raised the hem of her dress and folded into her lap, then slowly removed the old bandage, trying hard not to pull her skin, though he could still hear her sharply inhale as he ripped it off.

.

"You okay?" he checked and was answered with a silent head nod.

.

He looked at the gash on her knee and frowned. It was deep and needed stitches. Mrs. Forman was on a shift, so she couldn't help Jackie here, and he knew she would put up a fight about going to the hospital, but that wound was going to be closed tonight whether she liked it or not. He ran his fingers down her leg softly, enjoying the contours of her calves.

.

Jackie felt tingly where he touched her, but she always did. It was a nice distraction from the painful heat radiating from her kneecap, even if he didn't deserve to touch her right now.

.

"I've got some bad news for you doll," Hyde looked up at her with a sympathetic expression. "You need stitches."

.

She groaned and tried to pull her leg away. "It's fine Steven, honestly. Just give me some clean gauze and it'll be okay."

.

"Sorry. My mind's made up, so you can go to the hospital the easy way or the hard way. Which is it?" he asked, putting the options to her.

.

"What do you mean _your_ mind is made up? This is _my _leg!" Jackie brayed.

.

"Yeah, well I don't really feel like carrying you all over town, and that's what I'm gonna have to do if you don't get stitches. Every time you take a step this thing is going to open up," Hyde explained.

.

Jackie looked at him knowingly. "Why would you have to carry me everywhere?"

.

He shrugged. "You're an invalid."

.

"But why you? Why not Fez or Eric?" she challenged.

.

"Fez is too small and Eric dislikes you too much to help," he responded handily.

.

She put her finger to her lips in thought. "I guess I could always ask Michael to help me. He's not too small and he definitely likes me enough to volunteer." She was hip to his game and would trip him up with his own words.

.

"Jackie..." he warned. "Why do you always have to be such a pain in the ass, huh?"

.

"I could ask you the same thing," she sniffed.

.

Hyde begrudgingly smiled. Nobody ever called him on his shit, and for some reason it was turning him on.

.

He leaned over and kissed the part of her knee that wasn't damaged and began to wrap it up in the clean gauze. Jackie couldn't help but smile at his tenderness and her hands quickly found their way into his hair. He closed his eyes for a moment, wondering if it was just the effects of the weed or if this truly was the best feeling in the world.

.

"Were you breaking up with me in the stairwell before? It felt like you were," Jackie asked, wondering where they stood, not that she ever knew where they stood before that either.

.

"You have to be going out with somebody in order to break up with them, Jackie," Hyde informed her.

.

Her face fell. "Oh," she sighed with disappointment, and then found she was even more confused than ever. "My mistake."

.

Hyde ripped the tape with his teeth and fastened it around the gauze to hold it in place. He then got on his knees and lowered the hem of her flowing lilac sundress back down to her ankles and stood up. "But, um, I know was kind of being a dick before, so...you know." That was as close to an apology as she was going to get.

.

He extended his hand and waited for her to take it. She looked at it curiously, then slid her hand into his firm grip and he helped her up. "Kelso was right about you, before," he murmured, almost to himself as he ushered her toward the basement stairs. It wasn't until they had reached the bottom that she realized he was giving her a compliment.

.

* * *

.

"Remember how high we all got before we went to the reservoir that one night?" Donna asked, looked at Eric.

.

He nodded and smiled. There was no way her could forget that night. Holding her naked in his arms in the moonlit pool was one of his favorite memories ever. "Yeah, you could barely open your eyes."

.

"They were open once we hit the water," she reminisced, then realized what she said could be taken the wrong way. "I mean, you know, because it was cold."

.

"A look of girls can't help but stare when they see my package. Don't beat yourself up about it," Eric teased, pretending to hitch up his jeans.

.

Donna smirked. "There wasn't too much to see, if I remember correctly," she joked, knowing this would goad him.

.

"It was cold!" Eric shouted defensively.

.

"Was it?" she laughed.

.

"You just said—you just said it yourself!" he answered, getting flustered. "Besides, _you _certainly looked pretty cold that night, yourself."

.

A sly smile crossed Donna's face. "Whatever could you mean by that?" she purred.

.

"He means your headlights were on!" Fez screamed, interrupting the moment.

.

Donna scowled in the foreigner's direction for ruining the moment, but her luckily her objective was already completed. Jackie suggested earlier that she should say something to Eric to jog his memory and get him thinking about her naked, because if he was thinking about her naked, he would soon want to see her naked again.

.

"It was a good night," Eric said to himself as he grinned softly.

.

Donna glanced over at her best friend and silently thanked her.

.

**A/N – I know the circle wasn't written the way they normally do it on the show—with them all blurting out random thoughts in their own heads, but I'd imagine they played a bunch of games while they were high, too—so this was one example of what I thought might go on.**

** Let me know what you thought of it and PLEASE REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I know a few people who have had their stuff deleted for being too racy, so I'm extra careful/explicit with the warnings so that nobody will get offended and report the fic. I know it's annoying, but I don't want to put an M rating on the story for a few scenes, because stories never make it into the general feed if they are M rated. Just protecting myself from deletion.**

**.**

**PS - This is rated M!**

**.**

**BTW- I wrote a little J/H smutty one-shot a while back that takes place during this time period right before school starts-so if you're interested, it makes kind of a nice companion read to this one. Check out "Magic Man" (and please don't forget to leave a review for it!)**

**.**

**CHAPTER 9**

.

Eric walked Donna across the driveway and stopped midway, just in front of the Vista Cruiser. "I'm glad you came out tonight," he told her.

.

"Yeah? Me too," Donna said, fighting the ghost of their relationship for self-control. "I really missed everybody."

.

"Everybody missed you too," Eric said with ambivalence. "I'm, uh...I'm really sorry about what I said to you before. I feel like the biggest dumbass."

.

"Forget about it, Eric," she told him, starting up at the stars to avoid looking at his face. "You meant a lot of what you said, and you do have a point," she admitted. "You're not exactly a wordsmith though, so you're forgiven."

.

"But what I said..." he scrunched his features apologetically.

.

"I know you didn't mean it that way. I just hope you know that I _did _mean what I said. You were never second," Donna asserted, feeling a pang of sadness that he could even doubt how much he meant to her, how much he still means to her.

.

"In my heart I know that Donna, it just my head won't always shut up and listen, you know?" Eric made a face and shrugged.

.

Donna held her palm upright in front of Eric's face and closed her eyes. "You believe I am telling the truth about Casey," she suggested in a strange monotone.

.

Eric laughed and played along. "I believe you're telling me the truth about Casey," he acknowledged.

.

She continued. "You know you were always my first choice."

.

Eric looked at Donna standing in front of him in the moonlight, eyes closed, attempting to use Jedi mind tricks on him and realized that he actually did believe her. "I know I was always your first choice," he confirmed.

.

She opened one eye to see how his expression read and grinned. "I can't believe that actually worked," she joked.

.

"I always knew the force was strong within you, Donna," he said as he pressed his fist to his lips and shook his head with amusement.

.

"Do you want to hang out for a little bit longer?" Donna asked.

.

Eric hesitated before answering, then sighed. "I mean, I guess five minutes on the hood of the Cruiser for old time's sake would be okay."

.

She gave him a nod of approval and slid herself onto the hood and leaned back to look at the constellations.

.

He followed suit, but found his eyes drawn more to her than to the stars. "What did the stars look like in California? Were they different?"

.

"Oh you know, the same. Less fun to look at alone, though," she confessed.

.

Eric felt a familiar stirring in his stomach. "You didn't um, have anybody to look at them with?"

.

Donna shook her head. "I kind of kept to myself for most of the summer, other that those nights I had to watch Kelso's futile attempts to get into this one blonde bimbo's pants." She laughed at the memory.

.

"You really didn't date anybody the whole time?" he asked, wondering why the answer seemed so important to him.

.

"Kelso made me go to some parties with him, but I never dated anybody. So, no," she told him honestly, keeping her eyes safely on Cassiopeia.

.

He felt a lump forming in his throat and swallowed it down hard before asking the question he really wanted to know the answer to. "Why?"

.

Donna bit her lip and tried to come up with a way to respond that wouldn't leave her totally exposed, but deep down knew the only way he'd really understand how serious she was would be by making herself vulnerable. She had to suck it up and put her ego on the back-burner.

.

She finally turned to face Eric and answered simply. "They weren't you." She then returned her attention to the night sky.

.

Eric continued watching her and felt a new lump form in the old one's place.

.

* * *

.

The El Camino pulled into the driveway of the Burkhart mansion and sputtered off.

.

"Stay put," Hyde ordered Jackie as he walked around to her side of the car and opened the door.

.

"I think I can manage to walk into my house on my own," Jackie protested, knowing full well she'd have trouble moving on her own, but determined not to be a burden. "I'm perfectly fine!" she shouted, yet still had not budged an inch.

.

"Shut up and put your arms around my neck, will ya?" he demanded, completely ignoring her pleas of competence.

.

She did as she was told and he lifted her out of the car and slammed the door shut with his heel.

.

"Are your parents going to call the police when they see a vagrant carrying their precious daughter into the house?" Hyde asked as a joke, while suspecting the truth might not be too far off.

.

Jackie was starting to get slightly woozy from her pain medicine and had trouble focusing. "Huh? They're not home," she admitted as she handed him her keys. "It turns to the left," she instructed.

.

"It's past midnight and we live in Point Place. Do they know of some hot spot I'm unaware of?" he wondered as he propped her up against his chest and unlocked her front door.

.

"They're not in Point Place, Steven. My dad's in Madison and my mom's...well I actually really don't know where she is. She was on the East Coast of Mexico, but the weather got bad and she went somewhere else. She never called to say where," she explained while snapping on the lights as they passed by them.

.

Hyde looked at the house and it seemed almost haunted to him. There were sheets covering half of the furniture and a thick layer of dust covered everything else. "When was this?" he questioned, as a bad feeling started to build within his chest.

.

Now only halfway lucid and looking even tinier than her size 2 frame, Jackie looked up at Hyde and smiled adoringly. "You're so sweet to take care of me."

.

He shifted her slight weight in his arms and looked away uncomfortably. "I'm not sweet," he insisted.

.

Jackie cupped his cheeks with both hands and cooed. "Yes you are."

.

His glasses were tucked into his shirt and his hands were full, so he had no other option but to look directly at her with no shades to shield him from her focused gaze. "How long have you been living here alone?"

.

Her face dropped and she looked away. "I'm not living alone," she lied as she absentmindedly stroked his sideburns with her fingers.

.

"I can tell when you're lying," Hyde stated calmly. "Your voice goes up at the end and your eyes dart around all sketchy when the other person talks."

.

Jackie quickly adopted a diversionary technique that never failed her in the past. She leaned her head against his shoulder and started nibbling on his neck.

.

"Jackie, stop," he requested weakly and felt his knees starting to go. "Come on. At least wait until we get upstairs to your room. It _is _upstairs, right?"

.

She nodded and continued to distract him with her mouth.

.

* * *

.

As Hyde's feet hit the top of the landing, he peered down the hallway and saw that the lights had been left on in one of the rooms so he headed toward it, assuming that one to be hers. He was both pissed off and worried, and wondered what kind of parent would leave a teenage girl alone in a big house where she could easily be raped or murdered. He was now comforted by the memory of the many times she sneaked into his room under the cover of darkness and spent the night.

.

He swung the door open and was quickly greeted by his own personal version of how hell might be decorated. "Jesus Christ!"

.

Jackie's head picked up and she looked around disoriented. "What? What happened?"

.

"Did you...do this?" Hyde sneered, wondering if having a room like this was possible grounds for her dismissal.

.

Peter Frampton, ABBA and Captain & Tenille posters lined the walls, which were cotton candy pink to match her bedspread and carpet. It was almost as though she made it her job to buy everything she could get her hands on that was manufactured in that wretched color. He began to doubt seriously whether or not he'd be able to fall asleep in here.

.

"Good God. It looks like something the Easter Bunny puked up," he exclaimed as he gently laid her down between two giant red heart-shaped pillows.

.

"Isn't it beautiful? It reminds me of Cinderella's castle," Jackie sighed heavily and stretched out like a cat.

.

Hyde leaned toward her and pulled her dress over her head and laid it on a nearby pink, fluffy cube chair.

.

He pulled off his jeans and kicked them to the floor. "This place is going to give me an acid flashback."

.

"Oooh. I hope it's a good one," she chirped and continued stretching, drunk on opiates and oblivious to the fact that she had now been stripped down to her bra and underwear.

.

He placed his glasses in the side table, slid into bed next to Jackie and carefully arranged the covers over her body to keep her warm.

.

Just before he had the chance to pull her to him, she flipped over to face him. "I know you don't like hearing it, but you're the sweetest boy I've ever known," Jackie whispered melodically and ran her fingers through his curls. "Nobody's ever taken care of me like this, at least, not since I was little," she told him with a hint of sadness creeping into her voice. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, staring at him with wide open eyes that sparkled like gems in the soft pink lighting of her bedroom.

.

He didn't know what to say, or rather, he knew what he wanted to say but didn't know how to bring himself to do it. Before he could figure out a good enough response, she brought her hands to his face, and interrupted his train of thought by speaking again.

.

She cleared her throat. "I know I'm not supposed to tell you this, because you hate it when I talk..."

.

"Jackie, I don't really hate it when you talk. I just hate it when you say things that make me feel weird," Hyde confessed.

.

"Then this is probably going to make you feel very weird, because I've been waiting to say this for weeks now, but I knew you'd probably dump me if I did. It's just...I'm pretty sure I love you," Jackie confessed, then smiled beatifically and rolled onto her back, relieved to have finally gotten that out. "Actually, I'm positive I do."

.

He was speechless and frightened, and just looked at her with a mixture of awe and terror.

.

"You don't have to say anything back. I just wanted you to know, so now you do." She yawned and stretched again. "Hey, my knee feels great!"

.

His tension broke and he laughed. "I'll bet it does. Between the weed and the morphine, you're probably having a pretty rockin' night."

.

Jackie flipped back over to face him again. "I can think of one teensy-weensy thing that might make it rock more."

.

Hyde could feel her small, warm hands work their way down the length of his torso and skim the waistband of his boxers. "Jackie, I don't think this is a good idea. You're pretty out of it right now."

.

"That makes it a great idea. You love to do it when we're high, so why not me? Besides, I probably won't remember any of this, if it makes you feel any better," she laughed.

.

"Yeah, it doesn't," he sighed miserably.

.

Jackie ducked her head under the covers.

.

"Woah!" Hyde's eyes nearly fell out of his head and he scrambled to pull her back above the blanket line. "You cannot be doing that in your condition," he scolded her. "Bad Jackie!"

.

She pouted out her bottom lip. "I just want to make you feel as good and you've made me feel tonight, Puddin' Pop."

.

It was like the universe was testing him. He cupped her face in his hands. "You do, okay?" he was touched by her desire and enthusiasm to please him, but there was no way he was going to let her service him when she was that messed up. Beyond being unethical, it could get dangerous for both of them if she passed out and that was not a conversation he wanted to have with her once the drugs wore off. "Just-we should just go to sleep."

.

Her bottom lip started to quiver. "You don't want me anymore?"

.

"Crap." Hyde exhaled as he continued stroking her cheek with his thumb.

.

"Is it because I told you that I love you? I knew you wouldn't feel the same way about me. I knew it even way back when you kissed me on the hood of daddy's Lincoln. I thought you probably felt nothing and so I said I felt nothing and then we were just nothing, but it was hot and SO_ not_ nothing..." Jackie rambled almost incoherently.

.

He couldn't help but smile. She was adorable when she was out of it. He always figured she'd be annoying this wasted, but it turned out she was cuter than a field mouse. "I did feel something that night, okay?" he admitted.

.

"You did?" she wondered, asking for confirmation.

.

"I'm not saying it again." His gaze narrowed, preempting her from mentioning it again, which he completely expected she would despite his wishes.

.

"Tell me again. Please?" Jackie begged, pouting out her bottom lips and making puppy-eyes at him.

.

"You're not going to remember any of this tomorrow, are you?" Hyde asked as he waved a hand in front of her glazed-over eyes.

.

"I barely remember what happened five minutes ago." Jackie giggled and slipped her hands under his shirt again to feel his chest.

.

"Okay. Then yeah, I did feel something that night," he confirmed. "That's the last time I'm saying it though, so stop asking."

.

"And what about now? Do you love me, Steven? Because I'm not sure if I told you this before, but I love you – I love you so much that sometimes all I can think about is when I'm going to get to see you next - and when we're not together I wonder what you're doing when we're apart, and if you're thinking about me too," she whispered, her face breathing hot air on his neck.

.

It was like she was reading his mind. He did think and feel all of those things. He had never admitted it to himself, but hearing her lay it all out there like this made it impossible to pretend any longer. "I am," Hyde mumbled, getting swept up in the moment.

.

"You are what?" Jackie questioned, unsure of what she just asked him.

.

"Everything. Everything you just said, okay?" he answered, shocked and a little dismayed by his own honesty.

.

Jackie reached her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately, massaging his lips with her own as she parted them to allow his tongue to invade her mouth. "You feel so good, baby," she moaned softly before kissing her way down to the bend in his neck.

.

Hyde could feel himself getting worked up, but wasn't comfortable being with her when she was like this. He would hate for her to wake up feeling angry or violated. "Jackie, we can't," he groaned, his boxers now tenting hard.

.

"We love each other, I want to show you how much," she murmured into his chest and ran her hands down the back of his underwear to grab his naked ass. "You feel so good."

.

He knew he was probably going to go to hell for this, but he was only mortal and he had to have her. He quickly pulled of his t-shirt, then flicked open her bra latch and threw the offending garment on the floor.

.

Jackie pulled her own panties off in one smooth motion and then used her feet to pull Hyde's boxers down his legs, which he kicked off as well. "Come on," she urged breathlessly.

.

Not needing to be asked twice, Hyde positioned himself beneath her and lowered her onto him. They both groaned loudly as she started to ride him. He grabbed her behind and helped pump her toward him as fast and as deep as he could get her to go. "Watch out for your knee, just let me do the work."

.

The drugs must have been doing something odd to her, because she was shrieking and throwing her head back in ecstasy as if she were being fucked by Superman. Hyde pushed aside any earlier moral qualms and enjoyed one of the greatest screws of his life. It may have been slightly over the ethics line but watching her hot body bouncing on top of his made it feel worth the moral compromise.

.

Jackie clenched around him and dug her nails into his chest as she came hard. "Oh god!" she screamed as she rode out her high. The intensity of her orgasm triggered his own and he emptied out into her with force. "God Jackie, I-!" he muffled the rest of his outburst into her hair.

.

After they finished and she rolled off of him, he pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and across her chest. It had never been like that with a girl before, so connected, and she likely wouldn't even remember it had happened. He felt so intimate and close to her, which he's sure he never would have allowed had she been lucid, but he suddenly felt unusually sad about her missing out on such an amazing moment between them. It felt strange to know he'd be carrying around a secret, incredible memory about something that she actively participated in and she'd have no idea it happened.

.

He leaned over her sleeping form and clicked off the light on her night table, then allowed himself to be overcome by his exhaustion, lulled to sleep by her declaration of love that endlessly looped through his head.

.

* * *

.

It was afternoon in the basement and Fez and Kelso were sacked out on the couch watching 'Wheel of Fortune'.

.

Fez was still on a quest to reach 100 perfect M&M catches with his mouth, and had been hard at work all day. Every time he failed though, he had to start over, which resulted in him consuming nearly 600 M&M's over the course of only a few hours and now caffeine and sugar were threatening to overwhelm his system.

.

He threw a brown M&M into the air and it bounced off his now shaky frame. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you, you brown sonofabitch!" he shouted at the lone M&M sitting idly on the floor.

.

"Uh, hey little buddy. You might want to ease off the candy. You're starting to get all weird and scary," Kelso remarked warily.

.

"A man cannot give up on his quest or he is_ no_ a man," the foreigner declared before retrieving the errant M&M from the floor and shoving it into his mouth.

.

"I really respect your dedication," Kelso nodded stoically. "...even if it does end up making you fat and pimply and repulsive to women. You may never get laid, but you stuck to your cause and I dig it, man."

.

Fez frowned, then walked directly to the garbage can and dropped the economy-sized bag into it. "Quest over."

.

Kelso promptly got off of the couch, pulled the bag out of the garbage and began eating the M&Ms. Fez looked upon him with disdain. "What? You were gonna throw them away!" he screamed defensively.

.

Jackie walked into the basement just in time to catch the end of this exchange. "Trash candy Michael? God your standards have really plummeted without my guidance. Do you want to get fat and pimply?"

.

Kelso pouted like a spoiled kid, then dragged his feet to the garbage and dropped the bag back in.

.

Jackie leaned over and retrieved it, then smiled at Fez triumphantly. "Target practice?"

.

Fez clapped his hands excitedly. "Yay!" he said before opening his mouth like a bird.

.

As Jackie began tossing candy into Fez's waiting mouth, Kelso sidled up next to her, looking vulnerable. "Why didn't you tell me you needed to go to the hospital last night? You know I would've taken you."

.

She felt guilty, even though she had no reason to. "I didn't even know I needed to go until Steven told me."

.

"But why did you let him take you? I mean, why did he even volunteer to take you, anyway?" he asked, truly confused.

.

"I helped him find something earlier, so he owed me. Plus, I told him I thought it might be awkward if you drove me there," Jackie said, hoping that would be enough to get him off her back for the time being.

.

"Pumpkin, I know you're real mad at me right now, but I still love you and I will always take care of you. I hope you know that," Kelso professed as he took one of her hands in his.

.

The way he was looking at Jackie was making her feel sad and slightly nostalgic.

.

Their moment was interrupted by Hyde walking through the door. He brushed past them, forcing Kelso to release Jackie's hand, and marched angrily into his bedroom.

.

Worried about having a repeat of yesterday, Jackie made an excuse to leave. "I need to go, um, thank Steven for helping me last night," she announced before quickly disappearing down the hallway.

.

* * *

.

Jackie knocked on the door and then let herself in when she heard no response.

.

"Steven," she called out to get his attention.

.

Hyde was sitting on his bed rolling a joint and refused to look up at her. "What are you doing in here? Won't Kelso get lonely out there?"

.

She rolled her eyes and sat down next to him on his bed. "You're acting like an idiot, you know that?"

.

He looked at her with incredulity. "_I'm_ the idiot? You were holding hands out there with a guy who thinks Labradors can read his thoughts."

.

"I wasn't holding his hand," Jackie asserted. "He just grabbed for it. Can I help it if my hands are elegant?"

.

"And I suppose you were just about to pull your hand away when I walked in," Hyde grumbled, challenging her story.

.

"I was! But clearly you're going to believe whatever you want, so I'm just going to leave," she said tearfully and turned to head for the door.

.

Hyde was not expecting that. Deep down, he knew he was blowing up the issue so he could be in control of their demise, but she wasn't playing her part. She wasn't acting guilty and defensive like he thought she would, probably because she was telling the truth.

.

He felt like kicking himself for acting like such a jealous asshole, but the image of Jackie holding hands with that tall moron made him feel tense inside. It quickly came to him that if she wasn't fooling around with Kelso now, he would drive her to it soon enough if he kept acting this way.

.

_Do you love me, Steven? Because I'm not sure if I told you this before, but I love you...  
_

_._

Jackie's words from previous night echoed in his head and he felt horrible for doubting her. "Wait, Jackie!"

.

She stopped just as her hand reached the doorknob, but refused to turn around.

.

"I shouldn't have said that," Hyde admitted. "I'm being a dick."

.

Jackie held her ground and continued to stare at the door.

.

He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling himself flush against her. "I just hate seeing him touch you, okay?"

.

She smiled softly at the confession and placed her hands over his. "You're the only one I want touching me."

.

Hyde's stomach fluttered as it always did when she said stuff like that. "You want me to touch you now?" he whispered in her ear, giving her goosebumps.

.

"You didn't touch me enough last night?" Jackie asked in a teasing tone.

.

Hyde's body stiffened. "You—you remember last night?"

.

"Bits and pieces. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I remember it feeling amazing," she whispered back into his neck.

.

He leaned over and kissed her bare neck and pulled his arms tighter.

.

"Where were you this morning?" she wondered. "I woke up and you were gone."

.

"I had a shift, and I thought I should probably get back here before sunrise, just in case Red decided to do a bed check," he explained.

.

Jackie nodded, understanding his excuse. "I should probably get out of here before anybody starts to get curious."

.

Hyde's spirits fell and he wondered if she was ever going to be honest with Kelso about the two of them.

.

* * *

.

When Jackie returned, both Donna and Eric were in the basement, but Kelso was long gone.

.

"What happened to Michael? Did he leave for good?" Jackie asked.

.

"Why were you just in Hyde's bedroom?" Eric responded, ignoring her first question.

.

"I was thanking him for taking me to the hospital last night," she explained.

.

Forman stroked his chin in thought. "Yes, just why was Hyde so eager to bring Jackie to the hospital last night?" he asked aloud as Hyde walked into the room.

.

"You would have to ask Steven to answer that, because I have no clue why he decided to act human last night," Jackie retorted nervously, before stealing a glance at a shifty-looking Donna.

.

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea of what's going on," Eric gloated as he swanned around the room.

.

"Oh yeah? What's going on then, Forman?" Hyde challenged, secretly hoping to be exposed so he could finally stop sneaking around.

.

Jackie felt faint and silently thanked the fates for calling Michael out of the basement only minutes earlier.

.

Donna shot her girlfriend a look of empathy.

.

"Our buddy Hyde here has a secret!" Eric announced gleefully. "All summer he's been acting really strange, and last night when he volunteered to drive Jackie to the hospital I finally figured it out. Hyde is dating...a nurse!" he said, emphasizing his victory by waving gotcha hands in front of his best buddy's brown-tinted aviators.

.

Hyde calmly raised an eyebrow. "You got me, Columbo. I'm banging a nurse," he deadpanned.

.

"Nice, you lucky bastard." Fez seethed with jealousy. "Ooh, you can play doctor with her and she already has the costume."

.

The outside door opened and Lucy, with her hair in two long braids, skipped into the basement. "Hey everyone."

.

She grabbed Eric's hand and pulled him to the couch to sit down, then gave him a light peck on the lips.

.

Jackie, now relieved, returned Donna's sympathetic look from earlier.

.

"What are we doing today?" Lucy asked her boyfriend.

.

"We were all thinking of going to the beach," Eric said. "Unless, of course Hyde would rather us all go and hang out at the hospital," he offered.

.

"You're gonna be spending a lot of time hanging out at the hospital if you don't shut it, Forman," Hyde growled.

.

"Well, if we're going to the beach, I'm gonna need to swing past your house, Donna, because I left my suit there last time," Jackie said. "Remember?"

.

"No," Donna responded curtly, totally confused.

.

"Yes you do. It was right after school ended, but before you completely betrayed our friendship by running off to California with my ex-boyfriend. Remember _now_?" she snapped.

.

Donna looked at her best friend with bewilderment for a moment before realizing what she was hinting at. "Oh yeah, the swimsuit. I left the front door unlocked, so you can just let yourself in."

.

"Thanks. I should be back in a few," Jackie chirped cheerfully, then made pointed eye contact with her secret lover and hurried outside.

.

Hyde wiped his face with his hand and grabbed his keys from his pocket. "Yeah, that actually reminds me. I forgot something in my car," he crossed the room quickly and let himself out.

.

* * *

.

When he got outside, Hyde found Jackie glumly sitting on the steps with her chin in her hands. He sat down next to her and she instinctively swung her legs over his lap.

.

"Hey," he said as he rubbed her thigh.

.

"When exactly were you going to tell me about this whorey nurse you're screwing?" Jackie whispered angrily.

.

A look of shock crossed Hyde's face. "Jackie, Forman doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm not screwing a nurse!"

.

She smirked. "When did you get so easy? You're getting soft, Mr. Hyde. _As if _you'd ever have sex with a gross nurse when you could be with me," she said preening. "You have no idea where they put their hands, Steven."

.

His surprised expression devolved into a demonic grin. "I can tell you where I'm gonna put my hands. You are going to get it now, you monkey," he growled and tickled her sides, forcing her into a jag of hysterical laughter.

.

"Steven stop it!" Jackie gasped through bouts of laughter.

.

"If I'm so soft, then why don't you make me hard?" Hyde dared her.

.

She grabbed his Black Sabbath t-shirt and pulled him down on top of her, then immediately shoved her tongue into his mouth. They started groping furiously at each other as he pinned her to the concrete stairs with his body.

.

Hyde held Jackie's arms over her head and began to attack her slender neck with his mouth.

.

Just as she let out her soft moan of approval, the sound of glass breaking echoed in the corridor.

.

"Oh my God!" yelped Jackie when she looked up and saw who was standing there.

.

Eric, who had just dropped his coke bottle onto the floor, couldn't tear his eyes away from his best friend and his nemesis hooking up. "I'M BLIND!"

.

Donna and Lucy ran quickly to the door to see what the commotion was about.

.

"Get off of me!" Jackie pushed Hyde back and squirmed out from under him. She couldn't believe this was happening. They had managed to keep this a secret from Eric for 11 weeks and yet he somehow ends up catching them less than two days before school was set to begin. There was no way for her relationship with Hyde to fly under the radar now. Everybody at school would know, including Michael. "Okay, so um, what exactly did you see?"

.

"Hands, tongues, yours, his – it was horrible!" he cried as he leaned against the door frame.

.

"You were like Siamese twins joined at the beard," Donna joked and scrunched up her nose, freaked out by the sight of Jackie and Hyde getting it on. She knew it was happening of course, but that didn't mean she was prepared to actually watch it go down right in front of her. Their affair didn't seem real until that moment and now she couldn't get the graphic image from her mind.

.

"Hey, it's her fault man, she threw herself at me," Hyde grumbled, stood up and stepped away from his girl. He may like her more than he's ever liked a chick in his life, but he had a reputation to protect. The guys would never let him live this down. Jackie would probably understand- at least he hoped.

.

"No, no. You were on top of me!" Jackie complained as she followed him into the basement. There was no way she was going to let him put her in the hot seat.

.

"You pulled me! I've done a lot of partying, so you know, my balance is off," Hyde countered, passing the baton back to Jackie, who scowled at him.

.

"This is impossible, you two hate each other," Eric declared, baffled by this unlikely turn of events.

.

Donna closed the door of the basement once everybody was back inside. "Kelso is gonna freak," she warned them calmly, reminding them of their responsibility to own up to things now that they've been caught.

.

Eric looked stricken. "KELSO!" he whispered loudly with wide eyes as he realized what this meant for his idiot friend and their group as a whole.

.

"Settle down Esmeralda, Kelso doesn't need to know about this," Hyde assured him. Though he preferred not to date Jackie in private, he also didn't wish to hurt his friend. Sneaking around for three months had been kind of hot, so three more wouldn't make too much of a difference, as long as it wasn't because Jackie didn't want people to know she was slumming. Kelso had to be easier to trick than Forman, and fooling Forman was as easy as screwing Pam Macy.

.

"That's right. It's just a meaningless fling and we can stop any time we want," Jackie bragged, then looked Hyde directly in the eyes as if to apologize.

.

Hyde felt like somebody knocked the wind out of him. He tried to decipher if she meant what she said just then or if she was covering, and started to wonder if the words she whispered to him last night were actually just a drug and sex induced soliloquy or indeed the real deal.

.

Truly concerned about his dumb friend's feelings and worried that the devil might be brainwashing his best friend in some diabolical way, Eric felt it was only right to push for things to end, if only so the natural order of the universe could be restored. "Well, then maybe you should."

.

Jackie was indignant. She was getting pretty annoyed by his overreaction to her relationship with Steven, and she had had enough. When Eric was down in the dumps over Donna, she'd fixed with up with a pretty girl and barely said a word about him moving on, so he had no right to tell her whom she could or couldn't date. "Well, why do you even care?"

.

"Because you're breaking up the band, Yoko!" Eric screamed in her face, causing her to flinch. He really hadn't meant to yell at her that loudly, but this whole situation was starting to fuck with his head.

.

Hearing the commotion, Fez returned from the bathroom with a confused look on his face. "What happened?"

.

Lucy sighed, feeling bad for her new friends who just got caught. "We just caught these two frenching like a couple of French people at a frenching festival." She knew it was only a matter of time the way they had obviously been going at it.

.

"They have those? Sexy..." Fez smiled, imagining what the attendance must be like. "Anyway, that's impossible. You two hate each other," he informed Jackie and Hyde, looking for reassurance. They both looked away in separate directions.

.

"I said-I just said that!" Eric insisted passionately. "You said that you did not have a new girlfriend!" he shouted at Hyde.

.

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Jackie chafed, making Hyde immediately regret telling her they weren't 'going out' yesterday.

.

"She's not my—-they just don't get it," Hyde huffed, desperate to get the hell out of there before things got worse.

.

Jackie could tell that he wanted to leave and she was right there with him. "No. Why would they? Let's go babe," she said and waved for him to follow her.

.

Hyde stood up, grabbed her hand and then led her out of the basement door, leaving behind a room full of stunned people.

.

Eric turned to Donna. "You knew about this," he accused her, his finger pointing in her direction angrily.

.

"What?" the redhead placed a hand on her chest and pretended to be taken aback. "I had no idea! Why would you say that?"

.

"Hello? You are the worst liar!" he grumbled as he bounded over to her, leaving Lucy on her own standing next to Fez.

.

"I barely said anything!" Donna countered defensively.

.

"It's not what you said, it's what you _didn't_ say. Also, your body language is pretty easy to read, so you probably shouldn't go and enter into any high stakes poker games any time soon, okay, because you have a 'tell' lady...quite a 'tell'!" Eric advised sarcastically and then exhaled with exasperation.

.

Donna rolled her eyes at his histrionics, but decided to confess, knowing it would be futile to lie at this point, since everything had already leaked out. "Fine. I knew," she threw her hands up.

.

"A-HA! I gotcha!" he shouted, his green eyes ablaze with victory.

.

"It's not a 'gotcha!' moment if I admitted it to you, you dillhole," she refuted as she got up into his face.

.

They stared at each other for a moment with unadulterated fury and then both immediately lost it, falling helplessly into a raging giggle fit.

.

"You looked _so _mad!" Donna chuckled between heaving breaths.

.

"Oh my God, I _was_ so mad!" Eric laughed heartily.

.

"I was sure you were never gonna talk to me again," she admitted.

.

"Like I can ever manage to stay mad at you," he said, a little too seriously.

.

Feeling suddenly out of place, Lucy fled up stairs without a word. Fez looked on with concern and decided to follow her.

.

**A/N – ****Please let me know what you think in the reviews section. Thanks for all of those favs and follows - they are much appreciated!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Bow-chicka-bow-wow. You know what that means—sMut time. Many of you asked for D/E, so here it is, but I'm warning you, it's pretty explicit this time (is that a warning or a promise?).**

**.**

**Anyway—the chapter is rated M.**

**.**

**CHAPTER 10**

.

Lucy raced up the stairs from the basement that led into the kitchen. Unbeknownst to her, Fez was hot on her heels. He wasn't sure why, but he felt compelled to go after her to make sure she was okay. After seeing her several times a week for the past six months, he had come to know her as a sweet, open-hearted girl, and it made him sad to think of her dashing off alone to lick her wounds.

.

"Lucy, wait!" Fez called, trying to slow her down as she passed through the sliding glass door.

.

She slowed her gait and turned to face him. "He's still in love with her."

.

The kindly foreigner looked at his feet. "I believe he is, yes."

.

She let out a pained laugh and brought her hand to her head. "I knew he was holding back with me for some reason and I didn't know why, but seeing them together downstairs...it's so obvious she's the reason. I mean, they practically complete each other's sentences."

.

"Lucy, I really do think Eric likes you," he said, hoping that would ease the blow.

.

"Yeah I know, but he loves her." Lucy sadly shrugged. "I guess the handwriting was on the wall the moment she came back into town. I know I'm going to have to go back over there and break it off, but I need to clear my head first."

.

Fez pulled the giant bag of M&M's out of his pocket and held it open for Lucy, who laughed as she wiped a stray tear off of her cheek.

.

"I'm pretty sure I sold those to you." She smiled and slid her hand into the bag to retrieve a handful of candy.

.

"Look, I know it doesn't make it easier, but they've been in love with each other for their whole lives, practically. You're so beautiful and nice that I'm sure if Donna didn't exist, Eric would be head over heels for you by now," he said, trying to buoy her spirits. "Any guy would."

.

She nodded, half-believing him. "But she does exist. You're a good guy Fez."

.

"I try," Fez said with a blush. "How about we go for a walk?"

.

"I'd really like that. I'm not sure I'm really in the mood to be alone right now," Lucy said.

.

"If you want more company than me, we can always walk with Mike & Ike," he said, as he pulled a box of Mike & Ike's out of his back pocket and shook it.

.

The artist giggled a bit and then looped her arm through his. "Lead on."

.

* * *

.

Donna and Eric were sitting on the couch watching TV. She stole a glance at her ex and then immediately frowned. She could tell he was tense over Lucy storming off like that, and she knew full-well that she was the reason and she felt terribly guilty.

.

"Eric," she started softly. "I'm really sorry about Lucy. I feel kind of responsible."

.

"It's totally my fault. I wasn't giving her enough attention. I don't blame her for leaving, I mean, she has her pride," Eric said, feeling more than a little bit sorry for himself.

.

"Would it help if I went and talked to her?" she offered, feeling like a grade-A bitch for screwing up her ex's new relationship. She knew deep down that she had instigated him during their little spat as a way of rubbing their easy repoire in his new companion's face.

.

He smiled and placed his hand warmly on hers, causing her heart skip a beat. "It's really sweet of you to offer Donna, but it's my mess and I should be the one to clean it up."

.

"Can I ask you something? Why weren't you giving her enough attention? I mean, I never felt like you were that way with me," she asked, and then noted he'd forgotten to remove his hand. "If anything, you were always by my side."

.

Eric wasn't stupid. He understood the point she was trying to make and it had nothing to do with Lucy, but wasn't sure he was ready to go there just yet. "It's different with her. You can't compare what we had to Lucy and me," he said.

.

She followed with a question that both of them already knew the answer to. "Why not? We both dated you."

.

"You. Know. Why," he said with measured importance as he looked deeply into her eyes.

.

She felt her breath catch in her chest and nodded.

Donna observed Eric's pensive mood and decided she owed it to him to make him feel better. "Does your mom still freeze cookie dough?"

.

Eric laughed at the randomness of her question. "Uh...maybe. Why? Did you run out of frozen dinners at Chez Pinciotti?"

.

"No. Eating chocolate chip cookie dough always used to cheer you up when you were down," she said, reminding him. "Don't you remember when we were ten and I beat you up that one time and then an hour later caught you alone in the kitchen finishing off an entire log of frozen cookie dough?"

.

"Yeah, and then you punched me in the stomach and stole that log of cookie dough from me," he said, reminiscing. "Ahh, the perks of living next door to your bully."

.

Donna tried to hold her giggles in by pursing her lips with empathy. "I'm so sorry, Eric. I really wasn't very nice to you when we were little."

.

"Eh. You more than made it up to me when we were older," Eric said, then tipped his head and smirked as his eyes danced with good humor.

.

Donna's stomach did a flip-flop and she thought about the different ways she'd like to make it up to him now. "So- -cookie dough or would you rather have a beer instead, since you're a big boy now?" she asked, determined to ease her guilt by raising his spirits.

.

"Oh, I want the cookie dough. I'm still ten years old in here." He drew a circle around his heart with his index finger and conjured a sad boyish expression that nearly broke her heart. "And hey, if we're all out in the freezer, you can always whip me up some of your famous cookie dough Pinciotti." He cupped his mouth with his hand as if telling her a secret. "It's one of the few times it's okay for your food to come out raw."

.

She placed a fist on her hip and pretended to be offended. "That was one time and shrimp is supposed to be cooked al dente. Not all Pinciotti dishes come out raw."

.

He looked at her in disbelief. "I believe you."

.

"Eric! Fine. Maybe I should just get you a beer instead, if you're so afraid of my cooking," Donna said, followed by an indignant sniff.

.

"I'm joking! I'm very much looking forward to 'Salmonella Pinciotti', but then afterward, I'll need the beer. Lots and lots of glorious beer." Eric grinned before pulling her off the couch by the hand he was still holding. "You know, to kill off the bacteria."

.

She smacked his arm as they left the room.

.

* * *

.

Hyde and Jackie were sitting on the water tower making out.

.

"Why didn't we think of this before?" Hyde said, and laid her down on her back. "It would have solved our privacy problem."

.

"While the idea of possibly plummeting to my death while being boned in public is super appealing," Jackie said as he slowly crept his hand under her shirt. "I'm not too sure there would have been enough room. Not the way you like to do it, anyway."

.

"You're not turned on by the risk at all?" he asked, trying to see how far he could push her.

.

Jackie cradled his face in her hands. "Steven, with you everything is risky. I don't need any more than that, I'm good."

.

His brow furrowed and he quickly withdrew his hand from beneath her shirt. "What's that supposed to mean?"

.

She wondered whether her words would freak him out, but just couldn't hold them in. She wasn't built that way. "I feel like a trapeze acrobat performing without a net when I'm with you. There are no promises, there's no security - just me, hanging on to the swing for dear life, not knowing if you'll be there on the other side to catch me when I finally release."

.

Hyde stared at her for a moment to take everything in. She had an uncanny ability to put into words exactly what he was thinking and feeling at all times. He wondered once more if she could read minds, or if she was simply feeling exactly the same way he was. Between his mom bailing on him and her boyfriend habitually cheating on her, they both were pretty much fucked in the trust arena, so it shouldn't really be too shocking.

.

His blue eyes fixed on hers. "I feel the exact same way."

.

Jackie was caught completely off-guard by this admission. "I—I had no idea. Are you really worried that I'd let you down?"

.

Hyde shrugged then looked off into the distance. He didn't like where this conversation was headed and needed to find a way to end if before he seriously contemplated jumping off the tower just to escape.

.

She could tell he was starting to withdraw and needed to act quickly, so she climbed into his lap and turned his face toward hers. She took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. "I know everybody thinks we're a creepy and unnatural couple, but I really don't give a shit what they think. I want to be with you, and not in some half-assed way. I want to_ really_ be with you, and I would never not catch you."

.

He felt himself getting short of breath and figured he should say something to lighten the mood before she expected him to share his feelings, which he thought of as a close 2nd to getting his balls shaved by a blind man. "Hey, if this relationship weren't just a little creepy and unnatural, I wouldn't be in it."

.

The corners of her mouth turned down. "You know, contrary to what you might think, it won't_ actually_ kill you to say something sweet to me." Jackie turned her face from his.

.

"It might," he said with a smirk.

.

She climbed down from his lap and sat next to him, leaning herself against the silo. His lap felt cold without her on it, but it was better than the alternative.

.

"Guess last night was a fluke then, or maybe a hallucination." Jackie pouted and tried to hold back her brewing tears. "It figures."

.

She felt like she was going to die. She thought for a brief few hours that there was one person in the world who actually cared about what happened to her, but this only confirmed to her what she already knew - that she would never be loved. Maybe there was nothing about her really to love. Once again, she was reduced to being just a familial obligation to her parents and absolutely nothing to the rest of the people in this world. She wondered if anybody would ever think she was special, and deep down she suspected it was because she wasn't.

.

"Come again?" Hyde asked, hoping she didn't mean what he thought she meant.

.

She looked away, not interested in embarrassing herself further.

.

"You remember last night?" he asked again, more insistently this time, and a fresh shot of adrenaline coursed through his veins.

.

She shrugged noncommittally.

.

He exhaled hard and looked toward the heavens. "Of course you remember last night." He kicked himself for not assuming she was playing dumb when she claimed not to recall. It was a tactical error on his part.

.

"I figured you'd be embarrassed to know I remembered, because of what I said. Last night was one of the best nights of my life," Jackie confessed. "I thought it meant something to you too, but I guess it was just wishful thinking on my part. I feel like such an idiot." She couldn't hold back the swelling pool of tears anymore and gave up, finally allowing herself the release she needed so desperately.

.

She was crying into her hands and as usual, it made Hyde feel like somebody was taking an ice pick to his heart. He just couldn't stand to see her weep - but to know he was the cause this time, that just made it ten times harder to bear.

.

"Why do you want to be with a guy like me anyway, Jackie? I mean, besides the sex stuff?" Hyde asked, truly not understanding what qualities she saw in him that she couldn't get elsewhere. She was beautiful, smart, wealthy and popular—and sure, she was a massive bitch 80% of the time – but it turned him on to watch her reduce her adversaries to a puddle of skin and bones. What could she possible want with a burnout like him?

.

"What a dumb question. I don't want to be with a guy _like_ you, I want to be with _you,_" Jackie rasped through her tears. "You really don't get it." She shook her head, then met his eyes once more. "I've always wanted to be with you, even before you took me to prom. I just didn't realize it until recently. When we kissed on the Formans' couch, it wasn't because I was bored," she said breathlessly. "I'd been wanting to do that for a really long time."

.

He rubbed his hand over his face and tried to process what she was telling him. She had always liked him. He thought back to her behavior over the years – how she ran only to him when she was upset about something, how she tried to impress him by scoring pot, how she willingly and humbly accepted his zen instruction, despite the healthy shot to her ego – and he knew she was telling him the truth. She had felt this way about him for a long time and he realized at that moment, that he felt something for her the entire time too but his head was too far up his own ass to notice.

.

"Me too," he found himself admitting, much to his surprise. "Some of the things I've done for you over the years, I can see now that I wouldn't have done them for just anybody."

.

Jackie's tears slowed and she turned to him. "You mean like when you went to jail for me?"

.

He laughed. "Especially that. I always wondered what possessed me to do something that stupid for a chick I supposedly hated. I'm not exactly the noble type."

.

"Yes you are. You're noble and kind and sexy and you're always there when I need you, even when you don't want to be." She ran her fingers down the sides of Hyde's stunned face as she scooted back onto his lap. "Do you really not understand why I love you?"

.

There it was again. Jackie said she loved him, and Hyde knew now for sure that it couldn't have just been the drugs talking the night before, because here she was - sitting in his lap as sober as a judge, saying it to his face. "That was real," he said, confirming her words as the warm tingling in the center of his stomach spread rapidly throughout his body, making him feel hot all over.

.

She wrapped her legs around his back and locked them. "Did you mean what you said to me last night?"

.

His head fell onto her chest. He couldn't look at her, this was too much for him to deal with.

.

Jackie closed her eyes and ran her fingers through the back of his hair. "It's okay. You don't have to say it," she murmured into the top of his head. She was dying to hear him say something, anything reassuring, but she knew him well enough to know that pushing him would only drive him further away.

.

Suddenly, she felt a subtle movement on her chest. When she looked down, she could see that he was nodding 'yes'.

.

She almost choked on her breath and could feel tears stinging her eyes again. He meant it. "Do you want to be with me? Be my boyfriend?" she asked nervously, praying the answer would also be yes.

.

He nodded again.

.

Jackie released her breath and pulled his face up to look at hers.

.

"I'm not saying it," Hyde told her flat out.

.

"I don't care!" she said and laughed with happiness. At that moment she really didn't care whether he put it into words or not, as long as he meant it.

.

"Jackie, I'm not that guy who gives roses and writes poems and buy presents and shit like that, so don't go getting all excited. You need to lower your expectations. A lot," Hyde said, warning her with light tap to the chest.

.

"That's cool," she said, batting her eyes casually. He could think whatever he wanted, but she fully believed she could get him to do all of those things before the year was out - even if she had to trick him into it.

.

"Liar!" Hyde laughed, though he could appreciate her apt use of zen. He then cupped her face and kissed her so hard her lips were swollen. "If we don't get down from this water tower right now and find a room, I can't be held responsible for what happens next."

.

"Yes, dear." A smirk played lightly across Jackie lips as she dragged him toward the ladder by his t-shirt.

.

* * *

.

Donna and Eric sat on the couch in the basement holding their bellies.

.

"Not a good call on the beer and cookie dough combo, Forman, I feel like I just swallowed a balloon."

.

"Knowing your cooking, that is entirely possible," Eric said.

.

She shoulder checked him and scowled. He checked her back lightly and looked at her in a way that gave her goosebumps.

.

"Eric, I - -" Donna started but was interrupted by the reappearance of Eric's girlfriend, Lucy.

.

"Hey!" Eric leapt off the couch to greet her. "I was wondering where you ran off to."

.

"I needed to think some stuff through," Lucy said, as her gaze drifted toward the redhead who had just been sitting next to her boyfriend.

.

Donna rose from the couch. "I'm just gonna, you know..." she blurted out before quickly running out of the back door of the basement. As the door shut loudly behind her, she could already feel her cheeks getting hot with emotion. Unable to focus, she walked over to the Vista Cruiser, took a seat on the hood and cried.

.

* * *

.

Inside the basement, the mood was tense.

.

"Why did you leave so suddenly without saying anything?" Eric asked his girlfriend.

.

Lucy's face crinkled. "Earlier, when you and Donna were arguing, I thought that maybe...oh God this is awkward. Maybe you guys have some unfinished business between you."

.

He was flabbergasted. "Uh...I, um, Donna and I have a lot of history between us, so yeah, maybe there's some unfinished business, but I would never cheat on you, Lucy. I hope you know that."

.

She nodded. "I do, and while I appreciate your loyalty, I'm not an idiot. If she's still in love with you, I'm only going to end up getting hurt."

.

"You're asking if she's in still in love with me?" he asked, as he quietly debated whether the sharp pains in his chest were the result of a heart attack or an anxiety attack.

.

She laughed sadly. "No. I think that's pretty obvious. I guess what I'm asking is—are you still in love with her?"

.

Eric took a deep breath. "Oh." He knew the answer straight away, but he hadn't planned on acknowledging it to himself, much less her.

.

"It's just, I really like you, Eric, and I know that if we stayed together I could really have strong feelings for one day, but...not if you're in love with somebody else, obviously," Lucy said, knowing deep down how this conversation would end.

.

Eric ran his hands through his hair and sat on the couch. "Lucy, I really like you, I do, but I've loved Donna for half my life and that kind of thing doesn't just go away overnight."

.

She placed her hands on his chest. "It's also possible that it might never go away."

.

He averted her gaze and bobbed his head in agreement. "You may be right."

.

Despite the revelation, Lucy held her head high. "In that case, I think maybe you owe it to yourself to figure it out...without me."

.

Eric looked at her with contrition and sadness. "You're pretty amazing, Lucy."

.

She smiled. "I know. Which is why I deserve a guy who only has eyes for me."

.

"You do, though I pretty sure there's probably line somewhere of guys who were just waiting for me to choke." He ran a hand gently down the side of her face and cupped her chin. "May the force be with you, Lucy."

.

Lucy giggled. "You too, Eric. It was fun while it lasted," she said before she walked out of the basement for the last time.

.

* * *

.

Donna picked her head up as Lucy walked across the driveway. She noticed her visit with Eric was short, and her spirits were low, which could only mean one thing.

.

Eric emerged from the sliding glass door and took his spot next to Donna on the hood without saying a word.

.

She quickly wiped her tears. "You want to talk about it?" she asked.

.

"Nope," Eric said quickly, shutting her down.

.

"Okay," Donna said, stealing a glance at him. "So...what are we looking at?" She gestured to the sky. "I mean, because it's still daytime."

.

"Well, what were you looking at before I got here?" he asked.

.

"Nothing. I was just waiting for you." Donna worried her bottom lip. She could hear herself breathing. It rattled through her head at a deafening volume, but it was a welcome distraction from the agony of his silence.

.

Out of nowhere, she felt Eric's hand slip itself into hers and interlace their fingers. A broad smile broke out across her face and she turned her head to look at him. After three months of atonement, he was finally forgiving her, and she almost couldn't believe it was happening.

.

"You don't have to wait anymore." Eric turned his head to face her, ran his other hand down her cheek and smiled as he closed the distance between them. "I'm back now."

.

Donna wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders and he kissed her, gently at first, then frantically as the heat built quickly between them.

.

"Ew. Get a room!" Jackie screeched as she and Hyde, arms wrapped around each other's waists, walked past the pair and into the house.

.

Eric grimaced at the other couple's physical affection. "It's like cats and dogs falling in love!" he screamed after them. "So unnatural, and Kelso's going to be pissed."

.

"You probably shouldn't bring up dogs around Kelso, it will only make him feel worse," Donna said.

.

"The she-devil has a point though. About the room..." Eric waggled his eyebrows.

.

"What? You want to get a room?" she asked, pretending to play dumb.

.

"Absolutely not. The thought of touching you makes my skin crawl," Eric said, struggling to keep a straight face.

.

"Hmm, that's too bad, because Bob is gone at a Packers game all afternoon," Donna said, sighing loudly for effect.

.

* * *

.

Donna and Eric spilled into her bedroom while making out and tearing each other's clothes off.

.

Eric kicked her bedroom door shut with his foot, then stopped to look at her. "Donna, I missed you the whole time we were apart."

.

"No, no. Don't stop for chit chat. I haven't had been naked with a guy in like, a year. Make with the sex!" She pulled her t-shirt off over her head.

.

He stopped again. "Wait—what? You haven't had sex since the last time _we_ had sex?" he asked, both surprised and amazed that she hadn't been with Casey.

.

Donna is suddenly bashful. "Well...no. I mean, I wanted it to be special and I realized it wouldn't be special unless it was with you."

.

Eric looked at her and smiled. If he ever doubted he was her first choice before, he didn't doubt it now. She saved herself for him. There's nothing second choice about that.

.

"Stop looking at me like that!" She pretended to be angry in the face of his triumphant grin. "Stop it!

.

Eric leaned over and melodramatically swept everything off of Donna's bed to clear a space for them, then gestured toward the mattress gallantly. "M'lady?"

.

Donna jumped into Eric's arms, wrapped her legs around his waist and then pulled them both back until they tumbled backwards onto her bed.

.

He pulled his shirt off as she unbuckled his belt and opened his pants.

.

Eric took her earlobe between his teeth and then mouthed his way down her neck until he reached her breasts, unfastened the front latch on her white lace bra and buried his face in them. "Oh my God, I missed these," he said, cupping one in each hand before teasing her stiff peaks with his tongue.

.

She arched her back and moaned loudly – everywhere his mouth touched made her skin feel like it was on fire. It had been too long, and she had dreamed of this moment since the moment she broke up with Casey. Before actually.

.

She pulled down his jeans and shoved her hands down the front of his boxers, until she found what she was looking for. She stroked him gently with her hand, enjoying the hitch in his breath as soft groans escaped her lover's lips. "Forget the foreplay Eric, I just need to feel you right now." She shimmied out of the remainder of her bra as he lowered her underwear to her ankles.

.

"I'm hearing you Donna, but I'm not really listening," he said.

.

She furrowed her brow. "What?"

.

Before she could say another word, she got her answer in the form of Eric's tongue pressed deep within her. "Holy crap!" she shouted as her hands gripped the sheets surrounding them, trying to find purchase. As his tongue changed course, she noticed her sheets bunching up on either side of them, having been torn haphazardly from their station.

.

Her hands grappled for his shaggy mane tugging hard as she quickly lost control and screamed his name.

.

As Donna recovered, Eric kissed his way up the valley of her body until he reached her lips again.

.

"Forget what I said about the foreplay, okay?" she said, panting between ragged breaths.

.

He grinned smugly and brushed his hand through the air. "Forgotten." He started to tease her opening with his erection.

.

"Eric, I really missed you. A lot," Donna said as her hands wandered down his back to cup his bare ass.

.

"I love you Donna," he whispered, before pushing his way inside of her with a moan and starting to move.

.

They quickly fell back into their normal routine and he reached down to play between her legs as their rhythm increased.

.

"God, Eric!" she shouted as his strokes became rougher and more inconsistent. He was close but she was right there with him. He felt himself starting to lose it, so he thrust hard once last time and she exploded around him, her insides quivering as he released into her with a long groan.

.

Afterward, he rolled off of her and they laid next to each other very still while holding hands.

.

"Wow." Donna laughed, not knowing how else one would comment on the best sex of their life.

.

He turned his head to scold her. "You had better not make me wait another year to do that, missy."

.

"I promise!" she said and then brought his hand to her lips and kissed it softly.

.

**A/N - Please let me know what you thought of this! Both guest and registered user's input is very welcome and wanted :)**

**Hope you're enjoying it still.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Anybody catch Bob Pinciotti on both Castle and The Mentalist this week? Happy to see him!**

**.**

**Anyway-lots of sMut so this chapter is rated M.**

**.**

**CHAPTER 11**

**.**

Jackie and Hyde sneaked into the basement to see if it was empty. Noticing nobody there, they furtively scurried into Hyde's bedroom and quickly shut the door.

.

Hyde placed a finger on Jackie's lips, then pressed her up against the door and gave her a long slow kiss as he twisted the lock behind her. He'd been dying to be inside of her since their little talk on the water tower, but with Jackie wearing a pair of stupid heels, it took forever to get back. She did look hot in those heels, though.

.

"You don't think anybody is coming back anytime soon, right?" Jackie asked in a whisper.

.

"Don't know. Don't care." he said flippantly, as he felt around her hips for her skirt's zipper. "Why does everything you own have a zipper in a different place? Chick clothes are weird."

.

She held in a giggle and flipped her hair haughtily. "I was led to believe you'd done this before." Jackie dragged Hyde's hands to her side zipper and he swiftly tugged it down, causing the garment to pool around her ankles. Her legs felt cooler now, though everything else on her body was heating up rapidly.

.

He looked at her blankly. "Quit your yapping and get naked, will ya?"

.

"What? You think just because I'm your girlfriend now you don't have to ask nicely?" She gave him a stern expression.

.

Hyde grabbed his girl by her behind and pulled her firmly into his groin, then swept the brown hair from her neck on one side and left a trail of butterfly kisses from her ear to her collarbone. She sighed into his embrace and felt her knees go soft as his beard tickled and sensitized her skin. She may have hated the way his beard looked, but she couldn't deny how it felt on her body. "Jackie, shut up and get naked," he ordered. "Is that nice enough for you, princess?" he whispered hotly into her neck.

.

"Uh-huh...mm..." Her response was almost incomprehensible.

.

"Now get on the bed." He gave her a friendly pop on her underwear-clad behind and she followed his direction. She figured there was really no point continuing with her prim pretense, since he knew it was all an act anyway. He liked to dominate her in the sack, be the one in charge, and that was okay with her. Michael never had much control over their lovemaking, and she preferred a man to be a_ man_ in bed...as long as she got to do the bossing around outside of the boudoir. Unfortunately, Jackie was still trying to work out that half of the equation with Hyde.

.

The petite brunette pulled her blouse off over her head and threw it on a chair on the way to the cot, then climbed onto the mattress on all-fours and wiggled her ass at him while smiling coyly over her shoulder. If he was going to order her around, she would make him gag for it.

.

Hyde felt like pinching himself. Jackie was by far the hottest chick he'd ever hooked up with and even though she wasn't that experienced, to him she was the best in bed. Sex actually meant something when he had it with her, whereas before it was just a mechanical means to an end that felt good while it was happening, but afterward always made him feel emptier than before. Not with Jackie. The feeling he got from being with her always lingered like a good high or a nice-looking sunset. He carried that feeling with him all day until he got to see her again. He was totally fucked, he knew, but it was out of his hands at this point.

.

He grinned at her little display and crossed the room to the record player and turned it on. Hyde pulled the vinyl disk from it's sleeve, placed it on the turntable and dropped the needle.

.

_**Let it hang out baby, let it hang out now, now na-na now**_

_**Let it hang out baby, everybody work out**__**  
**__**Sookie, sookie, sookie, sookie, sookie, sookie, sue**_

.

Jackie sat up and placed her hand over her heart. "You bought another Steppenwolf album," she cooed, truly touched that he replaced the shattered one – and so quickly too.

.

"Well, you broke it," Hyde said defensively, not wanting to be called out for doing something sweet. "I don't like having an incomplete record collection."

.

She looked at him admiringly. "You bought that album for me, Steven."

.

"No, I didn't," he said with affront.

.

Jackie nodded and felt her heart swell with affection. He could lie all he wanted to, but his actions always spoke louder than his words. "Yes, you did."

.

"No." He just shook his head. He loved to make her happy like this, but couldn't really handle the aftermath of his deeds.

.

"Oh. Well, if you did, I was planning on showing you how very grateful I am for such a sweet gesture. But you say you didn't, so..." He was trapped now, either having to admit he did something nice for her or deny himself one of Jackie's sexual treats.

.

Hyde wasn't stupid - he weighed his options and went with the sex, as any red-blooded 17 year old guy would do. "Fine, whatever. I bought it for you. Are we done now?" he grumbled. In some strange way, he was kind of happy knowing she had the ability to play him. It made her a pain in the ass, but a worthy adversary. He knew life with Jackie would never be boring.

.  
She smiled at him through her lashes and beckoned him to the bed with her index finger.

.

"Are you going to do that thing..." Hyde asked hesitantly, hopefully.

.

"No! I am not going to do that thing. You need to stop asking, because it's never happening," she barked, then turned sweet again so quickly it gave him vertigo. "But there is something else I know you love..."  
.

He pulled off his shirt and dropped his jeans to the floor, then approached the bed in his boxers.

.

"Uh!" Jackie pointed to his glasses.

.

He exhaled loudly, pulled them from his face and petulantly tossed them onto a shelf. "I don't see what the big deal is."

.

Jackie grabbed his sunglasses and put them on. "How would you like to see your own reflection in these babies while you, you know...?"

.

Hyde pulled a face, realizing she made a decent argument. "I thought you liked to look at your own reflection."

.

"Usually, but not in bed. When I'm with you, I like to look into_ your_ eyes when you...you know..." Jackie said with embarrassment as she slid her hand into the front of his boxers.

.

She really was a sex kitten, all innocence and sass. He got high watching her let herself go, and he often found himself pushing her buttons as a way of manipulating her into doing what she normally wouldn't. Jackie was no dummy, she knew what he was up to, but it gave her somebody to blame when she wanted to scoot a little farther over the line without accepting responsibility for her unladylike libido. It was his pleasure to take the blame, both literally and figuratively speaking.

.

"When I what?" He smirked. Taunting her was half the fun.

.

She sat on her knees and looked up at him with one perfectly arched eyebrow.

.

He climbed onto the bed next to her and slipped his arms around her waist, then leaned in and mumbled behind her ear. "Who knew Jackie Burkhart was such a dirty girl?"

.

"I'm not dirty," she protested, feigning offense.

.

Hyde rested her on her back and began to pepper her face and chest with kisses. "You're filthy, you just don't know it," he said, baiting her.

.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and grabbed his head between her hands. "If I'm filthy, it's only because I've been with you. You know what 'they' say, 'when you sleep with pigs...'" she said as she pulled his mouth to hers.

.

"Who is this they?" he asked before he kissed her back. "Fucking 'Big Brother'."

.

He unclipped her bra with a snap, flipped her over onto her stomach and pulled her panties down. "I'm gonna take a raincheck on that blowjob, doll," he said as he kissed his way down her spine, his beard exciting her nerve endings the entire length of her back down to her tan behind, then shoved a pillow under her stomach. "Comfy?"

.

She smiled into the mattress and raised her hips to meet his. "How can you be so sure that's what I had in mind? How do you know it wasn't something kinkier?"

.

"'Cause you're not kinky-yet. I'm not done corrupting you." He grabbed her hips with both hands roughly and slipped inside of her from behind.

.

* * *

.

Donna and Eric descended the basement stairs holding hands. They walked over to the deep freeze and Eric opened the lid to retrieve two popsicles for them.

.

"You look parched," Eric said.

.

"Can't imagine why that is." Donna smiled through her eyes and slid her hand into Eric's back jeans pocket.

.

He closed the lid on the freezer and handed her a popsicle before they settled onto the couch.

.

"God, I can barely hear myself think," she said, tapping her left ear closed a few times. "Why does Hyde have the music up so loud?"

.

"Beats me. I haven't heard him play this in ages," Eric said, then proceeded to push his girlfriend onto her back while he sang "Sookie Sookie" into his popsicle along with the record for her amusement.

.

Donna giggled and mimed twirling a pair of underwear on her finger and tossing it at him, like a groupie at a concert.

.

Eric shook his head. "Man. Steppenwolf is probably swimming in pussy. I should really have learned to play guitar."

.

Suddenly, Donna shot straight up. "Wait! Did you say Steppenwolf?"

.

"Yeah, why?" he asked.

.

A nauseated look passed over her features. "That's kind of what Jackie and Hyde like to play for sound cover when they..." She covered her mouth with both hands.

.

"WOAH!" Eric leapt off the couch in disgust.

.

"I know." She shook her head and stood up looking uncomfortable.

.

"You're telling me...?" He pointed to Hyde's bedroom. "Right now?" he asked, looking stricken.

.

Donna nodded.

.

Faint giggling wafted over the music from the back room.

.

"I'm deaf!" Eric shouted and held his ears. "That creepy pair has ruined 'Born to Be Wild' for me forever!"

.

At that moment, Kelso with Fez and Lucy in tow, walked into the basement through the outside door.

.

"Hey Kelso!" Donna smacked Eric across the chest to get his attention.

.

He took his hands off of his ears and looked behind himself at his friend. "Kelso..." he whispered with shock.

.

Lucy instantly figured out what was happening and grabbed Fez's hand to pull him toward the door. "We should probably leave."

.

Donna, wondering why Lucy was back again after the breakup, crossed the room to speak with her.

.

"Why does Hyde have his music on so loud?" Kelso asked.

.

"Oh, he always does that when he has a girl in his room," Fez explained. "And I do not know this from hiding in the shower while he does it," he tacked on.

.

A huge grin swept across Kelso's face. "AW YEAH! Hyde's getting some tang in the afternoon!" he yelled loudly in appreciation and plopped himself on the couch.

.

"What? You can't stay here!" Eric said, as he tried to corral an immobile Kelso from the couch.

.

The man-child just grabbed his friend's unopened popsicle and proceeded to unwrap it. "Alright, orange!" he squealed excitedly.

.

'Donna! A little help here." Eric said desperately.

.

"Lucy, I'm sorry about what happened with you and...you know," she said weakly.

.

Lucy smirked. "You're not, but it's okay. I just hope you'll stick around this time. He was pretty heartbroken this summer."

.

Donna frowned and shook her head. "Damn."

.

"What?" Lucy asked, self-consciously.

.

"You really are as nice as everybody said you were. So...you're here with Fez?" Donna looked down at where the artist's hand was joined with the foreigner's.

.

"So, it turns out, he _was_ actually stalking me this summer—before they introduced me to Eric," Lucy said, unable to hide her grin. "I should be angry, but he's kind of impossible to get mad at. Plus, the boy can dance."

.

"Kelso! I really think we should leave the basement and give Hyde some privacy," Eric said forcefully.

.

Michael rested his legs on the coffee table and leaned back. "No way, man. This is like dinner and a show. Plus, if he didn't want us to hear him, he would have played his Ramones album instead," he said, and then looked at Eric like this was the most obvious conclusion in the world.

.

Suddenly, the sound of Jackie's staccato screaming floated past the thin walls of Hyde's room into the basement.

.

Lucy and Donna looked at each other in horror. Even Fez picked his head up in alarm.

.

Kelso laughed. "Wow. He must be doing something right. I've never heard any chick sound that into it...you know, who wasn't in a porno. He must be trying something French."

.

"Okay, you need to get up NOW!" Eric screeched, pulling fruitlessly at Kelso's arm.

.

"I mean, listen to this girl. He is really giving it to her! I'm gonna have to shake his hand or, I don't know, take some notes later or something," he said, waggling his eyebrows at Eric. "Oh who am I kidding? I don't even take notes for school."

.

A rhythmic banging noise began to accompany Jackie's screams. "Oh god!" she called out on the other side of the wall.

.

Eric felt dirty and his face contorted in disgust.

.

"Ooh. Hyde's screwing a religious chick. They're always the kinkiest," Kelso said, rubbing his hands together with excitement. "Lucky bastard."

.

Donna's mouth dropped open in shock. "Eric's right. This is getting weird and...well, that pretty much covers it. Let's get out of here before we start to hear- - -"

.

* * *

.

Hyde wrapped his hand around Jackie's hair and slammed into her from behind, sending the cot careening into the wall with each stroke. "You like that?" he growled into her ear.

.

"God, yes!" she screamed.

.

He buried his face in her neck. "Oh fuck! You feel so good inside, baby!"

.

* * *

.

In the basement, a rapt audience was treated to the sounds of Hyde moaning and passionately muttering something they can't understand.

.

"Hyde never screams like this when he usually has sex. He only makes kind of a grunting noise right at the end." Fez noted with wonder. "...or so I hear."

.

Jackie climaxed hard and loud, the sound easily permeating the walls of Hyde's room.

.

"Jackie! You're so fucking hot! Oh God, Jackie, I'm gonna come!" Hyde shouted at top volume before groaning his climax shortly after hers.

.

Everybody in the basement but Kelso froze and eyes darted around the room nervously.

.

"Damn! Hyde's nailing a chick named Jackie? Gotta be hard for him to scream out that name without thinking about _my_ Jackie, and we all know how he feels about her, am I right?" he said and started laughing.

.

"Is she your Jackie though?" Eric asked, his head cocked to the side in thought.

.

"Yeah...about that..." Donna tried to broach the subject but didn't know what to say.

.

"Well," Kelso clapped his hands onto his knees and tossed the popsicle stick over his head into the garbage can. "Show's over, I guess. For 15 minutes at least. I'm gonna see if Mrs. Forman is making anything good for dinner," he said as he headed up the stairs into the kitchen.

.

As soon as he was out of earshot, everybody started chatting away wildly about what to do.

.

"They have to tell Kelso. This cannot happen again. I mean, even a moron is going to figure it out eventually," Donna said, her nerved frayed with anxiety. "I guess that was kind of redundant."

.

"Jackie never made those noises when she was with Kelso," Fez informed everybody. "...one would assume..." he added quickly.

.

"One thing, does anybody else find it kind of puzzling that after so many years together Kelso couldn't recognize the sound of Jackie's...?" Eric stopped, unable to complete that thought.

.

"I've never heard Hyde scream like that before either. Never. And I've heard him bang a lot of women," Fez said.

.

Lucy's brow furrowed. "You have?"

.

"Hyde is a slut, so it's hard to avoid. And I'm sure by now you know he's a pervert who likes to do it in public," he said, hoping she wouldn't press the issue further.

.

A minute later, Hyde's bedroom door clicked open and Jackie wandered out into the basement wearing one of Hyde's Zeppelin t-shirts that came down to her knees with nothing underneath.

.

She noticed the company and immediately buried her face in her hands in embarrassment. "Oh God."

.

"You already said that, Jackie," Eric quipped. "Quite a few times, in fact."

.

"How long have you all been out there?" Jackie asked through the gaps between her hands.

.

"Long enough," Donna said. "And um, we weren't the only ones."

.

Jackie's hands flew to her chest in shock. "No. Don't tell me he was down here!"

.

"He was, but oddly was unable to draw the same conclusion that everybody else did," Donna said, her forehead creased in thought.

.

"You're saying he doesn't know?" she asked with baited breath.

.

"Apparently, although I have no idea how, considering we could hear both of you very clearly, but no," Donna said her, mystified.

.

"I've gotta go!" Jackie took off toward Hyde's room.

.

"You have to tell Kelso, Jackie! It's the right thing!" Donna screamed after her best friend, then turned to her boyfriend. "They're not going to tell Kelso, are they?"

.

"Nooo." Eric shook his head.

.

* * *

.

Jackie slipped back into her boyfriend's bedroom and shut the door behind her. "Everybody heard us," she cried with a pained expression. "Everyone but Kelso, at least."

.

Hyde looked up from the album notes he was reading and said nothing.

.

"Hello! Did you hear me, Steven, or has the pot finally affected your brain permanently? Everybody heard us! I'm so mortified." Jackie whined and then sulked her way over to the mattress, collapsing next to him face first.

.

He put the album cover to the side and rubbed his hand over his face. "You know, this is all your fault Jackie. You and your big screaming mouth," he grumbled.

.

"Uh, no! It's_ so_ your fault. If you didn't want me to scream, then you shouldn't have done that thing with your hand," she said, then leaned in closer to him. "You know what I'm talking about," she whispered harshly.

.

Hyde replayed it in his mind, then nodded his head in agreement with a tight half-smile. "Yeah, you're might be right."

.

She narrowed her eyes at him over her shoulder. "You're thinking about it right now, aren't you?"

.

He shrugged and his smile grew bigger. "Worth it."

.

Jackie turned to him and couldn't resist smiling herself. "Totally."

.

He stretched out on the bed next to her and rested his head on her chest. "You sure you still want to do this?" he asked while sliding his arms around her waist.

.

It was easy for her to want a relationship with him while they were under the radar, but now that school was starting they would both have a lot of ribbing and harassment to contend with. He wondered if it would prove too much for her to handle and she'd end up bailing.

.

"Of course I do," she said, looking at him with a hurt expression. "I told you that I loved you. I've only said that to one other person, and I'm not really sure I even meant it the same way with him."

.

The longer she and Michael were apart, the more she realized that what she had with him wasn't love, but a girlish infatuation. He was beautiful and sweet, and she cared about him deeply, but they didn't have the same connection that she has now with Steven, so how could those feelings even begin to compete?

.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, worried that she loved Kelso more. She'd go back to him eventually, he could feel it. Hyde's stomach clenched and he wondered why he was opening himself up to this kind of pain.

.

"It means that the feeling I have when I'm with you is different than the one I had with him. Better," she said, and then smiled as she played with his curls. "So much better."

.

At that, he picked his head up and smashed his lips against hers then rolled himself on top of her, pulling her small frame firmly toward him as his tongue probed through her flushed lips and into her fevered mouth.

.

She moaned and wrapped her legs around his waist.

.

He brought his lips down to her neck and kissed her in his favorite spot. "What on Earth will the other cheerleaders think when you roll up with a criminal on your arm to the prom?" he teasingly asked, though he seriously did wonder how she planned to handle the extra, unwelcome notoriety.

.

She laughed and moved her lips to Hyde's ear. "Half of them are going to think I've lost my mind, and the other half are going to be jealous as hell," she said with glee, then picked her head up excitedly. "Oh my God, Steven! Are you asking me to go to prom with you?"

.

Hyde snorted. "It was hypothetical." He lifted the Zeppelin shirt over her head and ran his hand over her chest.

.

"So you're saying you_ don't_ want to go to prom with me?" she asked with a frown, trying to get him to clarify what he meant.

.

Jackie's eyes sparkled with life, and it almost hurt him to look at them - even through sunglasses. He made himself do it anyway though and then instantly knew he'd end up caving to her in the end. He'd give in to practically anything probably, if she asked him nicely enough.

.

No use making it easy on the little imp though, he figured. He had to push back, to keep her in line or she'd try to put his balls in a jar on her shelf next to Kelso's. "I know you know what the word hypothetical means, Jackie," he carped as he absentmindedly teased her nipples with his fingertips. "I really should have pushed you off the water tower when I had the chance to save myself the aggravation of dating you over the next year."

.

Her breathing sped up and he could feel her hips buck up against his naked erection and smirked confidently. "You're planning on dating me for a year?"

.

_Fuck!_ He walked into that one. Hyde wondered if her body contained some kind of narcotic that was messing with his brain function. "Oh God," he groaned with exasperation.

.

"You may as well face it. You love me!" Jackie squealed.

.

He shook his head. "I don't 'do' love."

.

Jackie gave him her best Mona Lisa smile and brought her lips to his ear to whisper. "Your secret is safe with me, Puddin' Pop."

.

Hyde looked at his girl with a mixture of pride and love. "Shut up, Jackie."

.

She just smiled back at him and batted her eyelashes.

.

"Come on, let's go get something to eat. You're gonna need your strength later," he said seductively, then held her face and kissed her gently.

.

* * *

.

Donna and Eric were walking through the kitchen eating pudding while Kelso looked intently at an index card.

.

Through the corner of her eye, Donna noticed Jackie and Hyde coming up the driveway, arm-in-arm, nuzzling each other. She waved frantically to get Eric's attention from across the kitchen.

.

"Huh. So it's dairy. I always thought pudding was in the candy food group." Kelso reveled in his epiphany.

.

"There is no candy food group, Kelso," Donna explained to him gently while simultaneously signaling for Eric to distract their idiot friend.

.

Eric finally noticed the couple making out in the driveway and started to cough. "Oh, hey Kelso," he said, then walked to the other side of the kitchen, hoping to draw his friend's gaze there. "Why don't we take this pudding party to the other room?"

.

"As soon as I find the chocolate. Vanilla sucks. I'm like a Jedi master of pudding, my man. I've had them all," Kelso said, then closed the fridge door, immediately revealing Hyde and Jackie in flagrante delicto.

.

Confused, Kelso laughed nervously. "Hey, why is Hyde kissing Jackie?" He looked around the room to his friends for answers and his stomach sank. Eric couldn't meet his eyes and Donna's expression read nothing but pity.

.

Rage began to bubble in his gut and his fists clenched. "He's dead!" he screamed as he ran toward the glass door and promptly slammed into it. "Well, that's invisible!"

.

He frantically tried to slide the door open but it wouldn't budge. He wondered how his best friend of ten years could dog him out like that. What Hyde did went beyond breaking the guy code. Why would he do this to him? Why Jackie of all girls? She's the only woman he ever loved, and Hyde knew that. He had to get out there to give him a piece of his mind.

.

"Dammit!" Kelso jiggled the door roughly just as Jackie and Hyde turned to leave. "What's wrong with this thing?!"

.

Eric looked at Donna and exhaled. "Well...this goes against my better judgment, but..." He clicked open the switch lock and took a step back, letting the handsome, angry man rush through the door to confront his friends.

.

**A/N – I lied! There's going to be one more after this. Not sure it will be as lengthy as the others, but I had to break this up into two chapters, because it just got way too long for one.**

**Hope you're still into it :)**

****(this is the part where I shamelessly solicit you for reviews)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Just wanted to say hello to the guest who left a comment on chapter 11 on 10/18/12. It's extremely flattering to be compared to luvcali76. I'm a big fan of November Rain (one of the first zennie fics I ever read), so THANK YOU! It means a lot.**

**.**

**CHAPTER 12**

.

Kelso stormed back into the kitchen to face Eric and Donna.

.

"How long?" he asked them pointedly.

.

They both looked at him blankly, afraid to answer.

.

Donna cleared her throat. "How long what?"

.

"How long have you known about them and how long have you all been laughing behind my back?" Kelso asked, feeling a bit untethered by this recent news.

.

"We only found out right after you two came home," Eric said, hoping to cushion the blow.

.

"And to be fair, we were in denial because it was so unnatural," Donna said.

.

Kelso rumpled his hair. "That's true."

.

Eric leaned back onto the kitchen counter. "And believe me, _nobody_ was laughing at you. For once."

.

Kelso relaxed slightly and took a deep breath. "Okay. Good. Then it probably hasn't been going on too long."

.

Donna bit her lip and looked at the ground with concern. Kelso caught this out of the corner of his eye and tensed up again.

.

"How long Donna?" he demanded.

.

Her eyes shifted to his, and she could feel herself wincing before the words even left her lips. "11 weeks."

.

Kelso grabbed the chair next to him and collapsed into it. "She sure didn't waste any time."

.

Donna's eyes narrowed. She felt bad for him, but this pity party had to stop. He was the engineer of his own misery. If he had just acted like a grown-up and told Jackie that he wasn't ready to get married rather than ditching her without a word, he'd never have been let off that short, loud, bossy leash he loves so much. "If I remember correctly, neither did you."

.

He looked up at her with teary eyes. "That's different!"

.

"How?" she asked, glowering over her friend.

.

"When I was hooking up with other girls, I still loved Jackie. The other chicks meant nothing to me, and they still don't. But Jackie's not like that. If she's with someone else, it means she..." Kelso couldn't finish the thought. He leaned his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands.

.

Despite Donna's opinion that he brought this on himself, she still felt pity for her goofball friend and began to rub slow circles on his back. He may have a creative way of defining fidelity, but he did love Jackie and had for as long as she could remember. And he was right about the midget – she wasn't capable of being with somebody she didn't have feelings for. She was a one-man woman, and when she was with a man, her love for him would always overshadow everything else in her life.

.

A question floated out from beneath Kelso's hands and lingered in the air like an old lady's rancid perfume. "Do you think..does Jackie love him?"

.

Eric raised an eyebrow toward his girlfriend, also wondering what her take on this question was. At the time of the discovery, he was too freaked out to even think about his best friend's relationship on a deeper plane. He had assumed that it was just a hookup, but upon further examination there were major clues pointing to the opposite that just couldn't be denied.

.

The couple had been at this thing for three months. He'd never seen Hyde go on three dates with a girl, much less stay faithful to one woman for an entire season. Also, his bearded friend was risking a life long friendship with Kelso over this - and loyalty was essential to Hyde. There's no way he'd risk everything if she wasn't important to him in some way. As nauseating as the concept was, he was almost certain that Hyde had real feelings for the devil.

.

"I uh, I'm not sure how Jackie feels, but for what it's worth, I've never seen Hyde act like this about a girl before," Eric said, hoping that Kelso might feel better if he knew his friendship wasn't at risk over just some random fling. "At least you know they're not just fucking around."

.

Kelso looked up and shook his head. "That makes it worse, Forman. If he loves her, I'm never gonna get her back."

.

"You don't know that," Donna said, knowing deep down that he was right.

.

"Yeah, I do. It took her one week to forget about me, and he's never cheated on her so I'm totally screwed." He sighed heavily and dropped his head into his hands again. "Plus, that was her doin' it with him before, right?"

.

She tilted her head to the side and smiled sympathetically.

.

"Man, I may have been with tons of chicks but so has Hyde, and a lot of his chicks were way older and skankier than the ones I've been with. They must've taught him some fancy moves, because Jackie was screaming like he was beating her or something. How can I compete with that?" Kelso scowled while trying to imagine just what could have been going on behind the wall of Hyde's room.

.

"Well, you're better-looking than he is, and Jackie's really superficial, so there's that..." Donna said, trying to give him a boost.

.

"Man, who chooses a chick over a friend? I'm gonna kick his ass!" Kelso growled loudly and started to stand.

.

Donna signaled for Eric to get the pudding out of the fridge. "Would pudding make you feel a little better, Kelso?"

.

He shrugged melodramatically like a little boy. "Only if it's chocolate."

.

Eric brought a giant bowl of chocolate pudding and an enormous serving spoon over to the table and dropped it unceremoniously in front of their depressed buddy.

.

Kelso smiled and sank back down into the chair. "Thanks guys. It's nice to know I still have _real_ friends around."

.

* * *

.

Hyde and Jackie were sitting silently, side-by-side on swings in the nearby playground. Unable to bear the heavy silence anymore, Jackie climbed onto Hyde's lap to face him.

.

"Hi," Jackie said with a tentative smile.

.

Hyde pretended she was squishing him. "Hey. You know your fat ass just might break this swing, Jackie."

.

"Stop being a jerk, Steven!" Jackie snorted and gave his arm a playful slap. "My ass isn't fat, it's perfect."

.

"I'm just sayin'." Hyde tried to hide his smile, but it was no use. She was too easy to wind up and too cute when she was pissed - sometimes he just couldn't help himself.

.

Jackie ran her hands down the sides of his beard and he leaned into her touch. "So...are you planning on speaking with Michael any time soon?" she asked.

.

"Are you?"

.

She frowned. "Why should I go talk to him? He didn't come talk to me before he left for California."

.

"Look, you can do what you want, but you know you're gonna have to see him eventually," Hyde said.

.

"...says the guy who doesn't have the balls to face his best friend after he stole his girl," she said.

.

"Oh, I stole you now?" He laughed at her brazen assumption, even though he was pretty damn sure Kelso would come to the same conclusion when he found out.

.

"Only my heart," Jackie cooed with a smile, knowing he would find this kind of mushy talk completely horrifying.

.

Hyde groaned loudly.

.

"You're trapped under me and you have no escape from my sweet talk!" She cackled obnoxiously in his face.

.

"But I can shut you up this way." He tickled her soundly and she retaliated by distracting him from his revenge with a kiss. Even during his strongest hallucination, he never thought he'd be sitting on a children's swing in the middle of the day with spoiled bitch Jackie Burkhart snuggling on his lap. The craziest part is that he was beginning to think that he couldn't live without this feeling.

.

It was almost like his entire life was bisected by that one spontaneous kiss in the basement. Everything that came before was a sad, grey memory that was dwarfed entirely by the happiness and excitement that came after it.

.

It wasn't until Jackie forced him to watch 'The Wizard of Oz' one rainy afternoon, that it all sort of made sense to him. The shitty B&W scenes in the beginning of the film where Dorothy was lonely and miserable and constantly being tormented by the evil Mrs. Gulch - those reminded him of his crappy life with Edna before the Formans took him in. Once Dorothy landed in Oz and everything on screen switched into blazing technicolor with singing dwarfs, magic shoes and stuff - that was what his life felt like after Jackie entered it. The world's best acid trip.

.

Kelso may be a close friend, but there was no fucking way Hyde was prepared to go back to his colorless life before that pain-in-the-ass cheerleader burrowed her way under his skin like a wood tick.

.

Jackie curled her arms and legs around her boyfriend and held on tightly as he swung them back and forth gently. She placed her head on his shoulder and inhaled deeply.

.

"I know I look scruffy to you doll, but I do shower." Hyde rolled his eyes.

.

"That's not why I'm sniffing you, Puddin'." Jackie sighed and buried her face into his chest. "I love the way you smell."

.

"Of course you do." Hyde grinned, but his insides were clenching in fear. She really did like him, even the smell of his skin. How was this possible?

.

He ran a hand down the back of her dark brown curls and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "You're really done with Kelso?"

.

She pulled back and gave him a disappointed look. "Have I talked about him at all, or even looked at another guy this summer?"

.

Hyde shrugged. "I just don't want to waste my time on some chick or take a punch over something that isn't gonna happen."

.

Jackie was getting frustrated by his constant distrust of her commitment. She was the one who was routinely cheated on, yet he was starting to make her feel like she should eternally be on the defensive for past indiscretions that never even happened. She would never cheat on or abandon him, it wasn't in her makeup. If anybody should be nervous it should be her, since he had no prior experience being in a relationship.

.

"It's happening right now! Steven, I'm super hot. If I wanted to have a different guy, I could have had anybody I wanted. And I still can. I definitely don't need to wait for my idiot ex who humiliated me to roll back into town," she spat angrily and pouted her lips.

.

He was exasperating, but she knew where it was coming from. It was coming from the same empty corner of the heart that she had too – the one that made her cling to love with white knuckles, like static electricity to a polyester blanket fresh from the dryer.

.

Despite his cool facade, Jackie could tell he was still mistrustful and it made her ache inside. "Look, I want to be with you," she professed. "Despite the fact that you're scruffy burnout," she said as she scratched his sideburns before planting a soft kiss on his lips.

.

"Whatever." Hyde shrugged again, but she could tell that his shoulders had relaxed and ghost of a smile was beginning to cross his lips. "Let's get out of here and face the music."

.

"And then..." She nudged him in the ribs suggestively.

.

"And then if you're good, maybe I'll let you give me that blowjob you promised me earlier," he said.

.

"Stop. You're making me swoon." Jackie frogged him lightly in the shoulder as he carried her off the swing.

.

* * *

.

Kelso was waiting in the basement for Hyde to show up. He thought that if he could just corner his buddy alone, he would be able to either talk him into dropping his Jackie habit or beat the crap out of him until he agreed to stop seeing her. He wasn't too picky at this point as long as it got the job done.

.

Finally, his mark strolled into the basement, hand-in-hand with the mutual object of their affection. Upon seeing Kelso camped out on Hyde's chair, Jackie quickly dropped her boyfriend's hand and walked toward the couch silently.

.

Hyde felt his rage percolate at this slight and decided to take control of the situation by planting himself next to her, thus staking his territory.

.

Jackie looked on with frustration. Why was he making this harder than it had to be? She wondered if he wouldn't be satisfied until he'd marked his territory by whipping it out and peeing on her. Men were annoying. Instead of this stupid chest-thumping, why couldn't they just call each other fat and spread rumors of VD like women do? All this just didn't seem very productive to her.

.

"Hey Jackie," Kelso said sweetly. The expression on his face reminded her of a simpler time when Michael used to just be content with curling up against her while she tickled his back. He wasn't always so sex-crazed. When he was a virgin, he spent a lot more of his time just trying to make her happy. After they'd done the deed though, he spent almost all of his time trying to get her to drop her pants. There were days he made her feel like she was just another place to stick it, and not always his first choice at that.

.

"Michael," Jackie said, nodded her greeting. "What are you doing down here alone?"

.

He leaned in toward her. "What indeed?" he asked dramatically, drawing out the syllables of the second word.

.

Hyde tilted his eyes toward his girl and then looked at the floor.

.

"Okay..." Jackie said, feeling a little mystified.

.

Kelso stood up from Hyde's unofficial chair and walked to the deep freeze. "Are you hungry Jackie? Can I get you a popsicle, baby?"

.

Hyde balled his fists in anger but kept control.

.

"I would just love a pudding pop," she said, and then cast her eyes toward the man beside her.

.

The corners of his mouth curled up every so slightly and his hands began to relax again. Crisis averted.

.

She knew she had to figure out a way to keep this situation calm, because she was sure if she listened hard enough she would actually be able to hear all of the air being sucked out of the room.

.

Kelso reached across his friend's face and handed Jackie her pop, then reclaimed the bearded guy's chair. "So...do anything interesting this summer, Hyde?"

.

Hyde smirked. "As a matter of fact..."

.

"Steven..." Jackie hissed sharply as she cut him down with a look.

.

He turned to her. "Can you make yourself scarce?"

.

"Huh. No!" she said, sure that a turf war would break out the moment she left the room.

.

"Yes Jackie. I'd love a chance to catch up with my _good buddy_ Hyde alone. He can tell me all about his summer holiday," Kelso said ominously.

.

"I have as much right to be down here as anyone else. I'm staying," Jackie said, holding her ground.

.

Both boys glared at her.

.

Jackie stomped her foot angrily into the floor. "Fine! I hate you both!" she shouted and turned on her heel, then ran up the stairs in a panic. "Donna!"

.

Hyde waited until Jackie was safely in the kitchen to start talking. "So...what's up?"

.

"That's an interesting question, Hyde. What _IS_ up?" Kelso asked with a flourished arm gesture, as if he were addressing a jury.

.

The shorter man exhaled. "Well, I guess you know about me and Jackie."

.

"I hate you!" Kelso screamed angrily. "How could you do this to me, man? She's the only girl I ever loved!"

.

There had been times in his life he'd been pissed off, like when his brother Casey put pop rocks in his bathtub then shut out all the lights, but he'd never felt rage like this before and he didn't know what to do with it.

.

"I – it just happened." Hyde said, weakly defending himself. This wasn't going well, and frankly, he really didn't have a leg to stand on as far as a plausible excuse was concerned. He broke the guy code. It was what it was. "Kelso, look man, we need to settle this."

.

Kelso shook his head wildly. "No. I don't want to settle this, I don't want to talk about it, all I want to do is pound you so you can feel as bad as I do," he rasped, now on the verge of tears. "Get up!"

.

He was certain this was just a fling for Hyde, how could it not be when it always was? That his best friend thought so little of their friendship that he'd screw him over for what was definitely just another piece of ass to him made him irate.

.

What made it even worse was Hyde treating _his_ Jackie like she was nothing more than a plaything. She wasn't that type of girl, she was special. He was the only one who'd ever touched her in that way and he wasn't about to share that unique distinction with a guy who'd be done with her by the end of the summer.

.

If Hyde didn't feel like shit before, he did now. He didn't realize how deep Kelso's feelings ran for Jackie. In fact, he didn't realize Kelso was capable of deep feelings, period - but after experiencing first hand what the tiny brunette could do to a man, he should've known. "Fair enough."

.

Hyde rose and braced himself for the onslaught. He wouldn't fight back. He knew he was wrong and the right thing to do would be to stand there and take it. "I'll even give you a free shot," he said, as he took his sunglasses off and hooked them onto the front of his shirt.

.

"Well, are you gonna hit me back?" Kelso asked nervously.

.

Exasperated and eager to get this over with, Hyde shifted his weight and wondered if all the hits to the head he'd given Kelso over the years had affected his brain. "No man, that's why they call it a free shot," he said, trying to maintain his cool.

.

Kelso raised his fist to punch Hyde. "Okay. Get ready. Here it comes. Get ready," he said as he kept stalling, still uncertain of Hyde's promise not to retaliate, but mainly unable to bring himself to strike his friend, despite his betrayal.

.

"Michael!" Jackie shrieked angrily from the landing just off the kitchen. "Michael, you can't do this!" she said and quickly alighted the staircase with Eric and Donna in tow.

.

Kelso looked at her with the saddest eyes she'd ever seen. "Oh yeah? Watch me."

.

"You have to stop. He could get hurt!" Jackie wrung her hands, desperate to keep the only two men she had ever loved from killing each other.

.

Kelso looked at Hyde, who's face registered a glimmer of irritation at Jackie's interference on her ex's behalf.

.

"She's right, you could get hurt," Kelso said, lowering his fist.

.

"I meant you, Michael," Jackie said, correcting him.

.

"See that Hyde? Jackie cares whether I live or die." Kelso gloated.

.

Hyde frowned as he watched a conflicted Kelso shake his head. "You know what? Forget it. It's not gonna change anything. I just...forget it," Kelso said, trying hard to keep himself from getting choked up.

.

"Look Kelso, I didn't plan for this. Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm really sorry," Hyde said earnestly, letting himself be vulnerable for once. He knew he fucked up badly and this was the price of atonement.

.

"What do we do now?" Michael said, flopping onto the couch in defeat.

.

"Here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna shake hands and be done with it," Donna ordered with the precision of a drill sergeant.

.

"No. I don't wanna," Kelso grumbled petulantly.

.

"Shake!" the redhead screamed at the top of her lungs, shocking both boys into immediately joining hands.

.

"Michael, can I talk with you alone?" Jackie asked as she approached him.

.

Kelso shrugged and followed her out onto the porch.

.

* * *

.

This wasn't going to be easy, but it had to be done if there was ever going to be peace in the basement. She took a deep breath and dove in. "Are you okay?"

.

"What do you care?" he said with a bitterness she'd never heard from him before.

.

She sighed. "Hey, when you went to California, it really broke my heart. I stayed inside for 24 hours and just cried my eyes out, I thought I'd never get up off the floor," she confessed and then perched herself on the ledge of the front porch wall. "But then I did, and even though my eyes were all puffy and gross and my face was red and splotchy, I forced myself to leave the house. But it wasn't easy."

.

"Well yeah, I mean, I'd imagine it wouldn't be easy for you to leave the house looking like Rocky Balboa after a beat down when you won't even leave the house if you have split ends," Kelso said, truly sympathetic.

.

"I don't get split ends, you stupid jerk!" Jackie shouted reflexively and kicked him in the left shin.

.

"Jackie..." Kelso winced and doubled over in pain.

.

"I know you're sorry, but it doesn't change things. Michael, you were my first love and you'll always be special to me, but you really hurt me. And I know it's difficult to see me with Steven, but I really like him. He makes me happy. You did what was best for you when you left with Donna regardless of how it affected me, and now I have to do what's best for me and I won't apologize for how it makes you feel," she said.

.

He looked at her very seriously. "Apology accepted."

.

Jackie rolled her eyes yet smiled anyway. It was always impossible for her not to forgive him. "If you cared about me at all, just please try to get over it and get along with Steven, so things can get back to normal again."

.

"Things won't ever be normal again, but I'll give it a shot, I guess. Just do me a favor and tell Hyde he needs to start playing more Ramones, because Steppenwolf really isn't cutting it," Kelso said, much to her embarrassment.

.

She threw her arms around Kelso's neck and brought him in for a hug. He rubbed his hands lightly over her back and let them slide slowly to her ass.

.

"Michael..."

.

Kelso removed his hands from her butt. As much as it killed him to realize this, she didn't want him anymore.

.

"I'm not going to stop trying to get you back," he said, as they embraced. "I still love you, Jackie."

.

She exhaled long and loud. "I know."

.

Hyde emerged from the driveway just in time to catch their last exchange. "Hey."

.

Still hurt, Kelso sighed, then turned his back and went inside the house again.

.

Jackie skipped over to her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around his waist, slipping her hands in the back pockets of his jeans.

.

Hyde rested his hands on his girl's hips and brought her closer to him, yet still hadn't figured out what he was supposed to say. Hallmark didn't make cards for occasions like these. Not enough money in it for the man, he presumed.

.

"He'll get over it, Steven. He will," she said, curling herself into his embrace.

.

"Man, I don't know. I've never seen him that pissed before." He closed his eyes tightly, trying to block out the memory of Kelso's mask of pain.

.

"Do you...regret it?" Jackie felt unusually timid, not sure if she could handle it if he said yes.

.

"Regret what? Us?" Hyde asked with a confused expression.

.

"Yeah. We made a lot of people angry," she said.

.

He lifted his hands to caress her face. "It's like I said before, they just don't get it."

.

"You didn't answer my question," Jackie said tersely.

.

"You're asking me if I'd do it all over again, knowing what a shit storm we caused?"

.

She shrugged bashfully.

.

With her face still nestled in his palms, he bent down to look her in the eyes. "Yeah, okay?" he said with a crooked smile. "I'd just pack an umbrella next time."

.

At that, Jackie smashed her lips into his. Bringing her hands up to cradle his face, she leapt into his arms and hugged him with her legs so tightly, even air had a difficult time passing between them.

.

"I can't breathe, Jackie," Hyde managed to squeak out as she continued her assault.

.

"Don't care," she said, continuing to shower him with affection.

.

He laughed. "You'd better care," he said, and gave her ass an affectionate slap before placing her back onto her feet. "Come on." He pulled her down the basement stairs by her hand, stopping once to press her against the concrete wall for old time's sake.

.

* * *

.

They quietly entered the basement without detection and furtively sneaked into Hyde's bedroom, careful to shut the door behind them silently.

.

Hyde grabbed Jackie from behind and swept her hair to the side for direct access to her neck as she looked intently through his record collection.

.

"It's already on the turntable," he said, then unzipped the side zipper on her skirt, letting it drop to the floor.

.

Jackie shot him coy smile. "That's not what I'm looking for." She felt his hand go up the center of her shirt from behind.

.

"I'm here to collect my rain check, woman," he said, half-joking, while he felt her up.

.

"Got it!" She pulled his hands out from under her shirt and rushed to the record player before he could grab at her again. She pulled the vinyl disk from it's sleeve and swapped it for the Steppenwolf record already on there, then turned on the unit and carefully placed the needle on the record.

.

'_I Wanna Be your Boyfriend'_ by The Ramones starts playing at top volume.

.

_Hey, little girl  
I wanna be your boyfriend  
Sweet little girl  
I wanna be your boyfriend  
Do you love me babe?  
What do you say?  
Do you love me babe?  
What can I say?  
Because I wanna be your boyfriend_

.

Hyde smirked. "If this weren't The Ramones, I'd have to toss you out on your ass for playing that song." He pinched the skin between his eyes and let it all go.

.

"What?" She pretended to be shocked and then smiled smugly. The triumphant twinkle in her eye gave him palpitations.

.

Most of the time, refusing Jackie anything ended up being futile. If she couldn't charm or pout her way into getting what she wanted, she would always find the back way – and she'd get it despite any efforts to the contrary. This was Jackie's back door way of getting him to play her a love song.

.

With a flip of her hair, she jumped onto the cot and started to dance, slowly removing her shirt with flair in the process.

.

"What's wrong, Steven? You don't like punk rock?" she asked, taunting him as she guided her panties down her toned legs, pushing them past her knees until they fell to her ankles. She stepped out of her underwear and flicked them across the room toward his head.

.

Hyde grabbed the panties mid-air and considered his options. He could fight her by putting his foot down in order to keep his street cred – after all, any of their friends could be listening and they'd think he had gone soft. Or, he could let Jackie win this one and in return she'd probably reward him with the 'rain check' of his life. He decided not to fight it, because there's no point in fighting when you're already down for the count.

.

**A/N- Epilogue next! Hope you enjoyed the last chapter—please let me know what you thought in the reviews section. Feedback is king! **

**Thanks so much for reading and for being so supportive. According to the stats, you guys stuck with me the whole way, which is amazing- so thank you! And thanks to all those who fav'd and alerted this fic.**


	13. EPILOGUE

**Jackie and Hyde are just too sweet in Season 5 and I just couldn't end the fic there, knowing the way things panned out for them on the show...so I fixed it! Hope you like my AU ending to T70S. It takes place about six months after the series finale.**

**.**

**Chapter is rated M lite for sexytimes.**

**.**

**EPILOGUE**

.

Summer, 1980

.

A clean-shaven and fit Hyde was sitting on his usual chair in the Forman's basement for the first time in weeks. Shortly after the new year rolled around, Hyde decided to buckle down and grow up.

.

The near miss of having to build a future with the worst hangover in history made him really take stock of his life and where he was going—which had usually been to the nearest liquor store. He didn't want to end up like his parents, and was plain sick of looking at himself in the mirror and feeling nothing but ennui. There's only so long a guy can drive an automatic car on a dark road before he falls asleep at the wheel. It was long past time to pony up and go manual, in every sense of the word.

.

In early January, Hyde realized he was drowning in his own excess. With Eric, Donna and Kelso gone, he took to filling the hole in his life with booze and sex. His tremendous fall from grace the previous year brought him _thisclose_ to getting 'The Bends', so the decision to pull himself out of the water while he still had the ability to swim was a no brainer.

.

Having moved into the apartment above his store, Hyde was now managing every aspect of his life himself like an adult. He was more likely to be in the stock room of Grooves counting cassette tapes than banging chicks he'd picked up in the parking lot of his local watering hole. Once a guy has slept with all the hot women one town has to offer, it looses it's appeal pretty quickly - especially when the one hot chick he_ really_ wanted to be with was far out of his reach.

.

Watching the sun set on his childhood was difficult, but growing up wasn't nearly as scary as he thought it would be. Much to his surprise, he was already halfway there before he even left the nest – Edna and Bud had seen to that personally.

.

Just as Hyde was about to crack open his first beer, the outside door handle jiggled and a vision in plum floated through the room. Cheeks flushed, with her hair pulled up loosely into a bun, a tank top clad Jackie blew past Hyde and went straight for the deep freeze.

.

"Sorry. Can't stop to say hi. I'm trying to stop myself from keeling over from heat stroke," she said without sparing him a glance as she lifted the top of the freezer and practically dove inside.

.

Hyde stole a glimpse of his ex's ass as she bent over, which was lovingly hugged by a violet and plum-colored peasant skirt. "There are probably more efficient ways of doing that, Jackie," he said, amused by yet another one of her always-dramatic entrances. Now, he also needed to cool down, so he opened the can of beer and look a long chug.

.

"Well, don't scream them all out at once, Hyde," Jackie snapped, then shook her head. "Sorry! It's the heat talking." She pouted to herself as she pulled a pudding pop from the freezer, closed the lid and perched herself on top of the unit. "It's like the ninth circle of hell outside" she said as she unwrapped her frozen treat. "When are the Formans going to get a fan down here?"

.

Over the past six months, Jackie and Hyde had come to an understanding about their friendship. With half their friends gone, they really only had each other and Fez, and since neither had the energy or desire to make new friends, they settled into a comfortable, if slightly-detached co-existence. They didn't see each other often, but when they did it was relaxed, if not exactly enjoyable. Hard to enjoy a person's company when there's more subtext than dialogue.

.

Hyde watched closely as his ex pushed the tip of her pudding pop in-between her lips and held it there for a moment before taking it all the way into her mouth and closing her eyes in relief.

.

He cleared his throat and focused on his beverage.

.

She let out a frustrated groan. "This is barely helping me at all."

.

Hyde grabbed a cold beer and brought it over to Jackie. "No thanks, Hyde. I'm still working on my pudding pop," she said, holding her popsicle aloft - then realized how that came out and affected an apologetic grimace. A few seconds of intense awkwardness between them followed.

.

He took the can of beer and wedged it into the crook of her neck, then placed her free hand over it to hold it there. "Keep it there for a few minutes then switch sides," he said.

.

She sighed as the cold can brought her body temperature down immediately. "Where'd you learn that?" Several drips of condensation slid down the can and landed in her cleavage.

.

"Picked it up when I was running," Hyde said.

.

She pressed the beer to the other side of her neck and snorted a laugh. "Didn't you run for like, a week?"

.

He challenged her with a raised eyebrow.

.

"Just please be sure to send Bruce Jenner my regards next time you're out for a jog together," Jackie said in clipped English.

.

"Celebrity crush of yours?" Hyde said, then strangely found himself actually wondering about it.

.

"Well he _is _rich, isn't he? And he also has a nice butt." She winked at him, and he could feel his stomach clench.

.

Hyde scowled and took a seat. "Yeah, I didn't really need to hear that."

.

Jackie kicked her legs rhythmically in the pregnant silence. "When's Donna supposed to get here? It'll be nice to finally have somebody to talk about fun stuff with."

.

"Beat's me. I figured I'd just drink until either they showed up or I passed out," he said, as he stretched his legs out and crossed them at the ankles. "You planning on drinking that beer too or just skunking it with your body heat?"

.

"As if anything that touched my body could ever go bad," she said, while continuing to swing her legs back and forth against the freezer. "Well, except for you, I guess."

.

"I didn't go bad Jackie, I was born that way." After all these years, she was still the only girl he'd met with a tongue quicker than Medusa.

.

Jackie opened the can of beer she'd been holding to her neck and helplessly watched it explode all over the front of her thin, white tank. "Crap!" She looked down at her soaked shirt and realized it was now completely sheer.

.

Hyde laughed hysterically at her mishap. "Can I get you another round, doll?"

.

She fed him a nonplussed look and then pinched the front of the tank to pull the wet material away from her chest.

.

"Guess I can cancel that Spring Break trip if we're doing wet t-shirt contests in Point Place now," he said, before finishing off the beer in his hand.

.

"I don't suppose you have any extra t-shirts lying around here?" Jackie asked hopefully.

.

He shook his head. "Sorry short stuff, Red went over this place with a fine tooth comb to make sure all evidence that I ever existed left with me."

.

Jackie frowned. "Well, the beer is certainly cooling me down, but I can't spend the rest of the day smelling like a brewery. I don't know how you do it."

.

"I don't drink like I used to, Jackie," Hyde said defensively, slightly hurt she hadn't noticed all of the recent changes he'd been making in his life.

.

She gestured to the second beer he was about to open and raised an eyebrow. "I can really tell."

.

He frowned, knowing he was drinking far more than he usually would because he knew he'd be seeing her today and needed to take the edge off. "What? It's hot."

.

"Whatever..." Jackie forced a yawn.

.

Half of him wanted to dig a hole and bury her in it, and the other half couldn't stop looking at her tits, which were now completely visible through her shirt. One thing he always liked about Jackie was her de facto boycott of the bra industry.

.

"Oh stop staring at me like that Hyde, of course I've noticed you don't drink as much as you used to. I'm not blind. In fact, I just did a story the other day about the steep drop-off of beer sales in the greater Kenosha area over the past six months," she said, then let go of her shirt to readjust her bun.

.

He wanted to avert his eyes, but a hot chick in a wet tank top is nearly impossible _not_ to look at, regardless of who the broad is underneath the shirt. Instead, he just readjusted his glasses.

.

She was suddenly extremely aware that she was being stared at. "Ugh. Will you stop checking out my boobs please? I get enough of that from Fez."

.

"It's nothing personal Jackie, you're a chick with a great rack in a see-through top. Beyond my control," Hyde said, brushing his hand through the air dramatically.

.

"Nothing personal? Gee, thanks." Jackie looked at her own breasts. "I do have a great rack," she purred with a smile. "The least you can do is loan me your shirt until mine dries...consider it the cost of the show," she said, gesturing to her chest again.

.

He exhaled, then stood up and removed his shirt. "Only a t-shirt, huh? You're a lot cheaper than the strippers I used to know." He tossed it to her.

.

She caught the shirt and narrowed her eyes. "Doubtful."

.

Jackie hadn't thought about Sam in months, but whenever she did, it never failed to put her in a bad mood. It had taken quite a bit of time, but she finally figured out how to stay in the same room with Steven without wanting to murder him. Basement life ran more smoothly if she just instituted a mental block for the last year of her life. Sam leaving helped a bunch with that – though with or without the whore, she still had to deal with the torment of wondering what could have been from time to time.

.

The initial grief she felt when he ditched her had been back-breaking. She'd tried to push it away through whatever means she could grasp - most ridiculously her 24 hour 'relationship' with Fez. That evening, her first girlfriend kiss with Fez also became their last. They both immediately realized their smooch had about as much spark as a set of wet matches. It shouldn't have been a surprise to either of them though, considering it took the entire day for them to psyche themselves up for it. Jackie learned the hard way that despite best intentions and planning, the best kisses are the always ones that were never meant to happen at all - the ones that take you by surprise and knock the wind out of your sails.

.

However, after that aborted first kiss, she had an awakening. Jackie hadn't been without a man since she was 13 years old. If she was going to make good decisions for herself (ie – not hooking up with cheaters, alcoholic burnouts or pervy foreigners), she was going to have to figure out exactly what she wanted out of life first. In order to do that, she needed to stand by herself and stop letting life happen to her - so she temporarily swore off men and start taking control. A wise, if not frustrating choice on her part.

.

"Turn around," Jackie said, tapping her foot against the floor impatiently.

.

He grinned and continued to stare. "I believe I was promised a show."

.

Completely offended, she threw the shirt back at his head. "I'm not _actually_ one of your skanks, Hyde! I'd rather sit here fermenting in hops than ever take my top off for you again."

.

His face fell though he recovered his zen quickly. He was only joking, but in retrospect, he could see how it might have been in bad taste. Her words ate at him like a staph infection, creeping quickly across his body toward his heart. Though he knew logically that they'd never be together again, hearing her actually say the words out loud was like getting a strong hit off a defibrillator.

.

He stood up and walked over to the deep freeze then wordlessly handed Jackie his shirt, melodramatically placed his hands over his eyes and turned around.

.

She held the shirt in her hands in disbelief.

.

"Tell me when it's safe," Hyde said.

.

Safe? She didn't think it would be safe until Hyde put his freaking t-shirt back on. She wondered how long she would be able to look at his naked chest before launching herself at it. Jackie felt like an on-the-wagon drunk attending a wedding with an open bar. This was going to be a challenge.

.

She speedily peeled off her wet tank top and used the unaffected section at the back to wipe her chest dry, then pulled Hyde's t-shirt over her head and looked down. The words 'Physical Graffiti' were scrawled across her chest. "Okay."

.

He turned around, glimpsed her in his Zeppelin shirt and promptly felt all of the air leave his lungs. The last time he saw her in a Zeppelin shirt was when she tossed it on for modesty in order to use the bathroom after he'd just finished fucking the shit out of her twice.

.

"Thanks," she said, and nodded with a half-smile creeping up her face, then turned around and dumped her soiled shirt into Kitty's washing machine and turned on a light rinse cycle.

.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room as he headed toward the couch and took a seat. "So...um. How's the new job?" Hyde asked, desperate to change the vibe in the room.

.

Jackie took a seat at the other end of the couch and tucked her legs under her. They looked awkwardly at one another for a moment and then both turned away.

.

"It's fine. I mean, 4am isn't a glamorous time slot—- though I guess it is _now._" She pretended to pose and gave 'face'. "With daddy still in jail, I just have to keep chugging along like the little people do, right? The rent isn't going to pay itself."

.

"That's cool," Hyde tossed out casually, though deep down he did think it was cool how she pulled herself up by her bootstraps and made something of herself. He always knew she could, but figured she'd think it was beneath her and wouldn't want to. If she had wanted to, Jackie could have found a rich guy willing to marry her within a month – easily. Instead, she chose to wake up before the roosters in order to give the local weather and traffic report. Ironically, she was providing a service, and working in 'service', even on television, was the last thing the old Jackie would have done.

.

Hyde noticed a small, rectangular present hanging out of her handbag that was sitting beneath her on the floor. "Is that a cassette tape?"

.

She looked down and pulled it out of her bag. "I don't know. Fez forgot it at home and wanted me to bring it here for him. It's a welcome home gift for Eric."

.

"Do you know what it is?" he asked.

.

Jackie lifted the present out of her bag and put it to her forehead. "The Amazing Kreshkin says it's a Jackson Five album." She opened her eyes and pressed the package to Hyde's forehead. "Care to make a guess?"

.

"What's faggier than the BeeGees?" Hyde deadpanned.

.

"Easy. Zeppelin," she quipped, and brought the present back to her lap.

.

He stared her down menacingly and then laughed with abandon.

.

Jackie relaxed and smiled. "Wow. I thought for a second you were really going to hit me."

.

"I would never do that, Jackie. I don't wanna get blood on my Zeppelin shirt." He grinned evilly.

.

"Now, I really want to know what it is," Jackie said and ripped the gift wrapping off of the tape, then tossed it over her shoulder on to the floor.

.

"How do you plan to explain that to Fez?" Hyde asked.

.

She looked up at him with impunity. "Duh! I'm not gonna." She looked at him like he just asked her if she was wearing boots made out of fake leather.

.

She looked at the cassette in her hands and brought it closer to her face. "It's the soundtrack to that movie 'Rock-n-Roll High School'."

.

Hyde smiled and reached for it. "Gimme that." She handed it over and he looked at the cover. "This only came into Grooves about two days ago. It's been selling pretty well. Wonder why I didn't see Fez at the store."

.

"Maybe he was having a bad hair day and wanted to avoid seeing you. I know I do that sometimes," she said and shrugged.

.

Hyde thought about it and nodded in agreement, unsure if he should feel worse for Fez being so girly or himself, for having the flamboyant guy as one of his closest friends. "Sadly, this is a real possibility."

.

"I'm bored. Put it on," Jackie said.

.

"Say the magic word, doll," he said, in a sternly.

.

"Now!" she hissed in a way that made his lower half twitch and tingle.

.

Hyde stood up. "Just so we're clear, I'm not putting this on because you want me to. I'm putting it on to drown out the grating sound of your voice." He walked to the tape player and popped it in, then pushed play.

.

"Whatever." She yawned again and pulled the pins out of her hair that held the bun in place, letting her dark curls cascade past her shoulders and hang down the back of the couch.

.

Hyde watched her hair swing like a metronome in time with the music and reclaimed his seat at the end of the couch.

.

_They're telling us  
They're gonna make a fuss  
About the two of us_

I want you around  
I want you around

_._

Jackie's ears perked up. This sounded really familiar to her but she couldn't place it.

.

Hyde noted her confusion and put her out of her misery. "I Want You Around."

.

"What?" She was caught off guard by his statement.

.

"The name of the song. By The Ramones," he said sheepishly.

.

"Oh," Jackie said with a hint of recognition, until she remembered the last time she listened to The Ramones and her heart practically leapt out of her chest. She hadn't really listened to a Ramones song since 1977, the Fall after she and Hyde first started hooking up.

.

She flashed back to the many lazy afternoons she spent sprawled out on the cot in his old bedroom blasting 'Ramones', while he bent her like a pretzel and made it his job to find new and interesting ways to make her scream his name. She knew it had to be a Pavlovian response to the music, but she was under it's spell.

.

_I know what you're thinking about  
That you must have some doubts  
I know what you're thinking  
When you find out I want you around  
_

_._

Hyde was suddenly overcome by a similar bout of d_éjà_ vu and felt a familiar stirring deep in his gut that had lain dormant for the better part of 12 months. Unwillingly, his mind regurgitated the sensation of feeling his hands drifting over her soft breasts, tasting the salty-sweet caramel of her velvet skin and smelling the sticky haze of sex in the atmosphere after one of their more enthusiastic sessions together.

.

His pants got tighter with each passing measure of the song and his desire practically pulsated to the drum beat. He pulled his sunglasses from his face and placed them on the spine of the couch.

_._

_You know if it comes true  
I'll be so good to you  
I'll never treat you cruel  
As long as I've got you around_

I want you around  
I want you around

.

Jackie tried hard to stare at her hands, but Hyde's gravitational pull was too fierce. She could feel his eyes burning hot on her neck from across the couch, and knew if she looked up she would be utterly screwed, in every sense of the word, yet she couldn't help herself.

.

She lifted her head and was met by two blue spheres - as open and light as the summer sky.

.

His gaze settled on her wide eyes that smoldered and narrowed in his direction like burning embers.

.

She saw his mouth purse in anticipation.

.

He caught a glimpse of her tongue taking a quick swipe at her rosebud-shaped lips.

.

She noticed his chest tense under the weight of her gaze.

.

His eyes were once again drawn to the Zeppelin logo of his shirt and everything that laid beneath it.

.

They both slowly leaned toward each other at the same time, as if possessed by the spirits of their younger selves and gingerly touched lips, then pulled away quickly to assess the damage.

.

Joey Ramone sang the first few lines of The Ramones' cover song 'Come On Let's Go' by Ritchie Valens.

.

_Well, come on let's go  
Let's go, let's go, little darlin'  
And tell me that you're never leaving  
Come on, come on, let's go-a  
Again, again and again _

.

The former couple turned their heads back at the same time and locked eyes.

.

Very quickly, Jackie found herself straddling Hyde's lap, kissing him furiously with barely a second to come up for air.

.

His hands threaded themselves through her thick curls and gently pulled down, exposing her neck to his hungry mouth, as her traversed the expanse of skin from her earlobe down to her cleavage.

.

Jackie ran her hands over the taut muscles in Hyde's back and leaned into the assault. He tugged the hem of his Zeppelin shirt up and she helpfully lifted her arms so he could remove the offending garment, tossing it to the floor.

.

Hyde roughly brushed his thumbs over her puckered nipples, causing her to moan so loudly he nearly lost it. "Fuck, Jackie!" he rasped into her neck as she she pressed her core into his lap hard.

.

He flipped her over so she was lying on the couch and then covered her with his body.

.

Her hands were shaking as they unbuckled his pot leaf belt and yanked down the zipper of his jeans.

.

"What are we doing?" Jackie asked nobody in particular as her staggered breathing picked up at the sight of his erection, straining the confines of his boxers.

.

"I don't know," Hyde said in between kisses, his low baritone rumbling against her lips. It was then that he noticed she was shivering. Knowing it was 95 degrees outside, he dipped his head in an attempt to look in her eyes. "Are you cold?"

.

She shook her head no.

.

With all the resolve he had inside, Hyde forced himself to slow down and then ran his hands down either side of her face, tilting it to force her gaze to meet his. "Hey."

.

She tried to look away and slipped her hand beneath the waistband of his boxers.

.

"Jackie, slow down. Talk to me," he urged, sensing her frantic actions had more to do with running away from him than running toward him.

.

Ignoring his pleas, Jackie forged ahead and tried hard not to let the tears escape that she could feel threatening her eyes. "Can't you just...can't you just shut up and keep going, Hyde?" she asked, wanting to avoid all discussion.

.

She knew what they were doing was crazy and self-destructive, but she wanted it more than she had wanted anything in a year and thought if she rushed through it, she might be able to finagle some extra lag time between when her brain caught up with her body.

.

Jackie's inability to make eye contact was literally killing Hyde from the inside out. He knew he'd fucked up those many months ago, but at the time, he felt helpless to do anything about it. It was the reason he'd never bothered to explain himself or offer an apology to her once Sam rolled into town. He just turned the corner didn't look back. They never even officially broke up. Probably because he'd never wanted to.

.

At the time Hyde assumed he had no real say in the matter, so there was no point in making things worse by talking about them. She would never have taken him back, that much he was sure of, so why chat about it? Talking would've given their relationship closure and he wasn't ready to do that, despite being married to another woman.

.

Jackie leaned up and tried to capture Hyde's mouth with her own again, but he pulled back before she could make anything more than faint contact. "You know what? Forget it. This was a huge mistake!" She angrily tried to sit up, but he was straddling her lap which prevented her from doing anything but lying there on her back like an overturned turtle waiting to expire.

.

She struggled for a minute more, then let out a frustrated scream and begrudgingly relaxed into her cheap cushion prison.

.

"You done squirming?" He spoke to her as if she were his child.

.

"Go fuck yourself, Hyde. God! What the hell was I thinking? Every time I come near you it's like my brain short-circuits and I forget what a huge asshole you are." She scowled and continued to avert her eyes, mainly to piss him off at this point.

.

Hyde looked tenderly at her perfect face, with it's delicate but strong features and planted a kiss in the center of her forehead. He smoothed the hair out of her face, then kissed her nose, her chin, both cheeks and finally her lips.

.

Jackie remembered him doing this once before, years ago, when she thought he was rejecting sex with her and she wanted to leave his room. Her eyes closed and rolled into the back of her head but she could feel the aggression lifting despite her efforts to stay mad. "Why do you keep coming back? Why can't you just leave me alone?" she asked him in a small voice, her eyes still tightly shut to him.

.

"I don't know, I just cant." He caressed the side of her jaw and brought his lips to her ear. "I miss you, doll. I wanna be with you again."

.

She nodded her understanding, and clenched her eyelids shut to prevent tears from spilling out of them.

.

"I know I was a dick, but it was only because I was pissed off. I wanted you so much and knew you'd never take me back." He placed his head on her bare chest and listened to her heart beat. "I'm so sorry. For everything," he whispered. "You have no idea how much."

.

"It's too late," she said coldly, though her insides were a hot mess of emotions.

.

Hyde felt his stomach knot at her words and pressed his lips to her heart. "Come on. As long as we haven't kicked the bucket yet, there's no such thing as too late."

.

"I can't go back. I can't." She suspected she was talking more to herself than him.

.

"Then let's go forward," he said optimistically, trying to break through her wall with the weight of his gaze. "Jackie, I've changed. I know it sounds like a bunch of bullshit, but it's true."

.

She brought one forearm to her head and rested it over her pained eyes. "I've changed too, Hyde. I used to think you hung the moon. Not anymore."

.

He pulled her hand away from her face and looked shameful. "I know I don't deserve a second chance, but I'm asking you for one anyway. All I can do is promise I won't fuck it up."

.

"You can't make that promise." Jackie shook her head in disbelief, her eyes radiated fear.

.

"I can promise I'll try. Really try. How's that?" Hyde asked, still stroking her cheek as she laid beneath him.

.

He hadn't actually planned any of this. Sure, he had fantasized about it many times, but never actually thought he'd be having this discussion with Jackie in reality...but then her lips touched his and his world order changed. He knew he had to scramble if he wanted to feel whole again. This was his last chance to try to get it right, his last chance to treat her the way he should've but didn't – the way she deserved.

.

"Trying isn't good enough," she said, her storm of tears brewing rapidly like a giant cumulonimbus cloud ready to blow. "And before you start moaning about it, I know you're not all to blame for us breaking up. I was pushing you to do something you weren't comfortable with and that was wrong, but I just...I thought you were going to leave me."

.

Hyde felt a hard lump forming at the base of his throat. "Why would you think I was gonna bolt? I never once said I wanted out."

.

"You never said the opposite either. You never said anything!" Jackie hiccuped air and scrambled to sit up. "Marrying me was the only way I could be sure you actually loved me and that you wouldn't leave me all alone. That sure worked out well, huh? Don't worry, I see how stupid it all was now."

.

He rubbed his hand roughly over his face. "Man, I don't get what I'm doing wrong here."

.

"I know." She smiled sadly and decided to finally let herself cry. Tears streamed from her eyes like fat raindrops and rolled down her cheek, collecting in the form of a puddle on her chest.

.

Hyde leaned back and allowed her to get out from under him. He'd tried and failed. He would've done anything to get her back again. He would have given in to almost any one of her crazy demands, but she made no demands. She wanted nothing from him. At that moment he realized she was over him. She didn't love him anymore, and he felt the weight of a thousand bricks fall onto his chest.

.

Suddenly dizzy, Hyde dug the heels of his palms into his eyes and reclined against the back of the couch. He just assumed they'd always love each other, that it was a given – that kind of connection doesn't just disappear. Jackie was the only person he'd ever truly loved, and he loved her today just as strongly as he did the day he shaved off his beard for her, even if he couldn't admit it to himself until now.

.

Then it hit him. She had no idea he felt this way. Why would she? It's not like he ever bothered to tell her.

.

Hyde picked his shirt up off the floor and dried her tears with it. "Jackie..." he said, stopping for a second to build some courage. "I love you." His face was a mask of determination, layered over pure terror.

.

Jackie sniffled and took a deep breath. "Really? You...you really...?" she asked, certain she had heard him wrong.

.

He leaned forward and wiped the rest of the tears off of her face with his hands. "Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't say it enough before. Or at all, really."

.

"Oh," she said flatly, completely in shock.

.

"I'd do anything for another chance to be with you," Hyde said, looking directly into her eyes. "I'd even...I'll marry you." He looked at her with an intense glare that made a shiver run down her spine. "I want to marry you," he said with conviction.

.

Jackie's mouth fell open and both hands shot up to cover her mouth. She didn't know whether to laugh from joy or cry from the irony. The little one did neither of those things—she just remained frozen in this position until she remembered to tell herself to breathe. Thinking about breathing made her think about her lungs, which were under her rib cage, which was completely exposed since she was currently using Hyde's t-shirt as a tissue. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she covered them with her hands. "I'm topless."

.

His attention was called to her breasts and he smiled. "It's a good look for you."

.

"No. No, you just proposed to a girl who isn't wearing a shirt. I imagine this is how you proposed to Sam. I am such a skank." She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. "This was not the way it all went down in my dream journal."

.

Sam. Hearing that name tumble off of Jackie's lips made him feel a fresh stab of guilt. "I never proposed to Sam. I never wanted to be married to her, it just happened. It should have been you, and if I didn't act like such a dumbass in Chicago, it would've been," he said, swallowing hard. "And I'm not wearing a shirt either, if that makes you feel any better, baby." He smirked at her boyishly in the way he knew she loved, hoping to lighten her mood.

.

Jackie shook her head. "It doesn't. That makes it worse, actually. Now, all we need is to move in to that trailer Donna bought for Eric and I've plummeted about ten class levels. Pam would be so proud."

.

Hyde chuckled. She may be shallow, but she usually managed to make it entertaining. "Give me an answer anyway."

.

Her eyes widened. "You were serious? I thought it was a hypothetical proposal!"

.

He looked confused and annoyed. "Why would you think that? What the fuck is a hypothetical proposal?"

.

Jackie bit her bottom lip and looked at the ground. "Hyde..."

.

"At least call me Steven again while you trample my balls," he requested bitterly.

.

She placed her hands on either side of his face and smiled at the familiar feel of his stubble beneath her fingers. "I don't want to trample your balls, _Steven_. I'm going to need them some day when we want kids."

.

He touched his forehead to hers. "Are you fucking around?" he asked. He could feel himself holding his breath. In one afternoon his entire life was changing, just as it had three years ago on this very couch.

.

"No, I'm not fucking around, but come on...us getting married right now is insane and you know it," she said, with a long exhale.

.

"I meant it when I said I'd do anything," Hyde said. He couldn't mess this up again. "I'll marry you, if that's what you want."

.

"Is that what you want?" Jackie asked, truly believing there was no way he actually did.

.

He thought hard for a moment. "Yeah."

.

Jackie stared at him, trying to figure out where this was all coming from. Just when she was about to be taken in again, she waved a hand in front of her face in an attempt to break the spell. "This is crazy! We have too many problems between us that we need to work out." She wondered why he was so intent on pushing the issue.

.

Hyde nodded. He knew she was right, but something inside of him felt vaguely disappointed by being turned down. Not only did he realize right then that he wanted a life with her, he also decided he didn't want to waste anymore time _not_ living that life.

.

"How about you ask me on a first date? Can we just start there?" Jackie asked, encouraging him with her eyes.

.

He answered her with a kiss, but she could tell his heart wasn't in it.

.

Jackie cocked her head to the side and stared at him. "What's wrong?"

.

Hyde looked down as he played with the fingers on her left hand and shrugged. "Just wondering if you still, you know...forget it, man. I think the heat is getting to my brain."

.

"Of course I do, Puddin' Pop. I have since that night you brought me to the hospital to get stitches," she confessed readily and kissed him hard.

.

Relieved, he cupped her face again and brought his forehead to hers. "Me too."

.

"I know." Jackie nodded with emotion. "I know that now."

.

It was reckless to trust him again, she knew, but how could she not? He claimed he wanted to marry her - he wouldn't do that unless he were absolutely serious. That much was certain. She'd been alone for a while and though unhappy, she survived. She was strong now, and whatever happened with them this time, she knew she'd be okay in the end.

.

Jackie felt lightheaded and couldn't tell if it was from euphoria, the heat, or a combination of the two. "Now shut your pie hole and take your clothes off before I get so dehydrated that we can't 'prove our love' To each other."

.

Hyde grinned. "Yes, dear," he said dutifully, then lifted her up and carried her threshold-style to his now vacant room in the back.

.

* * *

.

They both looked down at the bare cot and then each other. Impatient, Jackie squirmed in his grasp to get the ball rolling. "Steven, that cot isn't going to knock itself up against the wall."

.

Hyde smiled and gently tossed her on the bed. "You never used to be this impatient."

.

"You never used to be this built," she cooed while regarding his more developed chest with approval.

.

"Same could be said of you." He crouched down on the bed beside her and cupped her breasts with his hands as he leered at her with a palpable hunger.

.

Through the wall, they could hear Joey Ramone's familiar warble come over the speakers again.

.

_Yeah yeah she's the one  
Yeah yeah she's the one_

_When I see her on the street  
You know she makes my life complete  
And you know I told you so  
She's the one, she's the one  
_

_Yeah yeah she's my girl  
Yeah yeah she's my girl _

.

Now both naked, Jackie slid down onto Hyde's lap and wrapped her arms and legs around him, forming a protective cocoon. "Being married right now would be stupid, but you know...it might be fun to live together...at some point."

.

She looked away shyly, but he grabbed her chin and turned her head back to him. "I just want to be with you, I don't care how it happens. I'm signing up to take the ride, wherever it goes."

.

Jackie's head dropped back and she grinned. "You can sign me up too."

.

"I'll give you a ride," Hyde quipped, eliciting a moan as he bucked his pelvis against hers. "So...this living together business...would you sleep dressed like this every night?" Hyde raised an eyebrow.

.

She looked down at their nude, intertwined bodies and smirked. "Would you make it worth my while?"

.

He nipped her earlobe then soothed it with his tongue. "From now on, I will _always_ make it worth your while, doll. Always..." he whispered quietly in her ear as he began to move inside of her.

.

* * *

.

Outside of the room, Donna and Eric opened the door to the basement and filtered inside with their luggage.

.

Eric stopped short and looked at his girlfriend quizzically. "Why is there a Ramones album blasting in my basement when nobody is around?" he asked while checking out the room. "In fact, why is nobody around? My mom said Hyde and Jackie would be..."

.

Donna's eyes widened and she instinctively threw a hand over Eric mouth.

.

He pulled her hand away and mouthed "OH MY GOD!" with a look of sheer disgust.

.

"Come on," she whispered harshly and grabbed his hand. "Let's get out of here before-"

.

Before she could finish her sentence, the sound of the cot slamming rhythmically against the outer wall of the back room echoed through the basement.

.

Eric groaned. "She has to be the devil. It's the only way to explain Hyde constantly going back for more. He's clearly turned to the dark side."

.

"Red really might want to consider investing in a solid bed frame." Donna grimaced.

.

Eric dropped both suitcases on the floor and grabbed Donna's hips. "Quick. Run for your life!" he hissed at her as they ran laughing from the basement into the safety of the driveway.

.

The End!

**.**

**A/N - Hope you liked the epilogue. I just thought they really deserved a happy ending :)**

**Please let me know what you thought of this in the reviews section. Thanks again for reading my story and for all of the favs and alerts! You are awesome!**


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